Love Conquers All
by Bisho-jo Trio 123
Summary: Chapter 7 is up! Gum asks Beat about the ring and a simple question turns into a story of a lifetime! I had to change the rating from "PG-13" to "R" just because of this part! I had no idea it would be this bad! Well I hope that doesn't stop you from
1. Care and Hurt

A Bishojo #3 production Love Conquers All Sweat, blood, and tears went into this one. My co-writer, Jessica, and I now bring you possibly the best, and so far only, BeatxGum romance fic! Get out your popcorn and you tissues folks and enjoy!  
  
A/N: Before we begin, some of you are probably saying, "Wait a minute, Bishojo #3, didn't you write a yuri fic about Gum and Cube? How can Beat and Gum be together if she's with Cube?" I wrote that for my sister. Just ignore the GumxCube yuri. That one takes place in a AU.  
  
Love Conquers All part one:   
  
Five months. The GGs have been together for five months. The GG garage now houses five occupants, Beat, Gum, Tab, Cube, and Combo. The others usually stop by for a chat and a tagging round now and then, but the five who lived their gained the strongest bond. Especially a certain couple who had been together since the beginning.  
  
Gum slapped herself across the face. She found herself daydreaming about Beat again. It wasn't that he was a bad person to fall in love with, Gum just didn't see him as her type. 'But why? Why am I day dreaming about him?' Gum thought to herself. 'Am I really falling for him? I can't be! He's just a friend.' Gum scolded her self and shook her head, as if to shake all thoughts of Beat out. She had an image to keep after all.  
  
'Yeesh! This is really getting to me.' Gum thought. 'I should probably talk to someone or it might get worse. But what would the others think?' Gum sighed and crossed her arms. She closed her eyes tightly and promised herself she wouldn't think about Beat for the rest of the day. She broke her promise ten minutes later.  
  
She put her head in her hands and sighed again. This was driving her crazy! She looked around the deserted garage and her attention was suddenly directed to a scratching sound. Potts slowly came out of his kennel and yawned. He stretched and began sniffing the ground for some elusive treasure he never seemed to find. Gum chuckled slightly at the dog. He seemed so lost and confused, but determined to find what ever he was sniffing for. So much like herself at the moment.  
  
"Potts." She called quietly. Potts perked up and headed over towards Gum. It was rare that he got attention from anyone other than Beat. Gum petted the dog on the head. "You're the only one I can talk to. And I trust you won't tell Beat." Gum let out a long breath before saying what she had been denying for a long time. "I like Beat. Really like him, more than a friend I mean. I don't know why I do, he just doesn't seem like my type. He's just got this, I don't know, 'Beat charm' or something." Potts panted and wagged his stubby little tail in reply. "Thanks for listening."  
  
Out in the bus terminal of Shibuya-Cho, Beat and Combo were re-tagging their turf after yet another gang challenged them. As they cleaned up the bus station, Tab and Cube reclaimed Center Street. After all the pranks that had been pulled on the GGs while they were away, they decided that one of them should stay behind during tagging rounds.  
  
The gang that had made a mess of the bus terminal and Center Street was obviously a new gang. No one had any records of their tags. "You get the last cars, I'll take care of the ad signs." Beat ordered. Combo nodded and skated off in the other direction as Beat climbed the stairs.  
  
From the darkness of an alley, a group of large rudies watched as the GGs reclaimed their territory. One of them, most likely the leader, folded his arms and grunted as he saw Beat. "You're not gonna let a bunch of kids beat ya, are ya Mitch?" one of them said to the leader. "Just watch, when I'm through with them, Shibuya'll be all ours!" Mitch snickered as he slowly crept from the darkness.  
  
Beat had skated to the other end of the catwalk and was now gaining up speed to make the jump to the other billboards. Mitch sprinted to the stairs and began to casually walk up them like an ordinary passer-by. Beat jumped onto the rail and was gaining even more speed, when Mitch ran up the rest of the stairs and grabbed him mid-grind. Using all of his strength, he threw Beat down the nearest flight of stairs.   
  
Combo, hearing the sounds of occasional thuds and grunts, turned to see what was going on. He saw Beat lying on the ground moaning in agony. Combo dropped his stereo and rushed over to his fallen friend and spotted someone else dashing down the stairs towards Beat as well.  
  
Mitch reached Beat first and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. "Now to finish it." He muttered as he prepared to chuck the already injured Beat into a wall. A sudden strike from Mitch's blind side caused him to drop Beat and stumble backwards. Shaking his head, Mitch looked up to see an enraged Combo. "You dare to challenge me?!" Mitch said as he wiped his bleeding mouth with the back of his hand. Combo cracked his knuckles and stood his ground. "Bring it on!"  
  
Combo pulled back and punched Mitch right in the face. He easily pinned the smaller, weaker rudie to the ground and began pummeling the guts out of him. Only when Mitch was bleeding from his mouth, nose, and several other injuries on his face did Combo finally stop beating him and discarded him like a rag doll.   
  
Mitch's friends were a little freaked by Combo's display of power, but they couldn't just let him get away with beating up their leader. They all charged Combo as his back was turned and he was helping Beat to his feet. Combo turned around just in time to receive a punch in the face. However, Combo was hardly phased by it, and struck back hard. The others who evaded Combo's attack surrounded him in a battle formation, much like a pack of wolves would use to bring down prey.  
  
'When facing an enemy you out number,' Combo thought as he watched his challengers, 'it is a good idea to cut off his path of retreat. So, strategically, their choice to surround the enemy was correct. However,' The three remaining fighters charged at Combo at once, ready to unleash a rain of pummels. Just as they were in striking range, Combo spun, kicking one in the gut, brought his fist up getting one in the jaw, and turning back around to deliver a knock-out skull bash to the other. 'it's a good idea to know your enemy.'  
  
Combo turned to his friend, who was still on the ground moaning in agony, and carefully picked him up so as not to injure him further. It appeared that Beat's wrist was sprained, most likely from him trying to stop himself from falling. His ankle was twisted pretty bad and he most likely suffered a concussion as well, seeing as how he had no helmet. Combo also notice a large amount of blood soaking Beat's black jeans. He found a broken beer bottle sticking out of his leg.   
  
Combo quickly skated over to Center Street to let the others know of Beat's condition. He carried Beat over his shoulder fire-man style. After telling Tab and Cube what happened, they all went back to HQ to heal Beat's wounds.   
  
Gum wasn't to happy to see Beat in that condition. In fact, she was frantic. Of course she never showed it. While her face showed only the smallest bit on concern, her heart was beating like a drum. Garam, who had stopped by while the others were gone, went off to get something to help with the pain. Mew, who had also stopped by, was helping Cube bandage his wounds.   
  
Beat was barely conscious and was ready to pass out any second. Gum stood behind the two girls clenching her fists. She hated doing nothing but watching, and she couldn't even get a clear view of the nearly comatose boy she had grown so fond of. Finally deciding to swallow some of her pride, Gum slowly walked up behind Cube and Mew. "Is there anything I can do?" she said in her usual voice. Cube put the finishing touches on a bandage and turned to her. "We're just about done here, but we could use someone to keep an eye on him. You know, sort of like keep a vigil on him until he's back on his feet. Think you could do that?"  
  
Gum nearly lost herself to her passion. She caught herself at the last moment when she was about to let some of her feelings surface. That would've been a costly mistake. Instead, her face wore her usual smirk. "Sure, I can do that. Just leave it to me." Cube nodded in approval and Gum nodded back. Gum's heart was skipping happily inside her chest.  
  
After carefully moving Beat to his bed, Garam returned with not morphine, but, "It's morphine substitute." Garam explained. "Are you sure that won't kill him?" Mew asked, raising an eye brow.   
"Of course it won't. It's just as good as morphine, perhaps even better! Just be careful not to give him too much."  
  
Beat was floating between a thin line of consciousness and unconsciousness. He was slowly but surely becoming aware of his surroundings, but he barely had the energy to open his eyes. It felt too good to just rest. But something was bothering him. He could barely remember anything after he was suddenly grabbed from his rail grind. He didn't even know who or what had grabbed him. There was a sense of insecurity growing in the back of his mind, and he had to at least know where he was in order to ease it.  
  
He had already determined that he was in a bed. That was about it. That and he felt the presents of someone else. Probably the thing that fed his insecurity. For all he knew, it could be the person who grabbed him waiting for him to wake up so that he could do God knows what to him. For all he knew, Onishima could've caught him and the person with him could be his cell mate. A bit of fear grabbed Beat in his stomach. He had heard of what became of boys his age in prisons, and from what he knew, prison rapes were a reality.  
  
Whatever had happened, Beat had to know what his near fate was. Mustering up his courage and strength, he slowly opened his eyes. A soft moan escaped his lips; he was more out of it than he thought. He blinked groggily a few times, but his eyes refused to focus. "Hey," came a soft voice from his right. He turned his gaze to the figure sitting beside him. She sounded familiar, but he certainly didn't remember seeing her anywhere. "Wha....wh...where am I?" Beat asked the figure feebly.   
"You're back in the garage. It's a good thing Combo was with you, or else you would've been history. Man, how dumb can you be Beat?" the figure replied, adding a chuckle at the end of her statement to show she was just kidding around a bit.  
  
'Garage?' Beat thought, still unclear on what was happening. 'Right! The garage! But, I sure don't remember her ever being one of the GGs. When did she join? She looks a little bit like Gum, but she's much prettier. I think I like this new member!' "Hey."  
"Yes?"  
"I can't remember seeing anyone as pretty as you."  
  
Gum was a bit taken back by this statement. She was shocked, but was in no way displeased with what had just happened. 'He thinks I'm pretty!' she thought happily. Then she came back to reality a bit. 'It's probably just a side effect of the morphine substitute, but whatever the condition, he still thinks I'm pretty!'   
"Excuse me,"   
"Yes?"  
"Could you tell that hawk his flute playing is really annoying?"  
"Oro?" 'Yep, it's definitely a side effect of the morphine substitute. Oh well,' "Just go back to sleep and I'll take care of the...hawk."  
  
For the next few days, Gum was right at Beat's side, tending to his every need. The entire time, Beat kept mumbling about how beautiful Gum was. She knew it was just the morphine sub talking, but it didn't matter to her at all. She just assumed that under the influence of the drug, Beat was saying his hidden feelings for her without really knowing it. That was until one day.  
  
It had been a week since the incident and Garam said that the pain had probably subsided enough to take Beat off the drug. The next morning, Beat woke up and was surprised to see that his usual care-taker was replaced by Gum. She became concerned when Beat's usually drugged up grin was replaced with a look of confusion. "Is something wrong?" she asked. Beat scanned the room with his eyes and seemed quiet disturbed as if something was missing. "Where is she?" he finally asked.  
  
"She who?" Gum said, raising an eye brow. She had been with Beat the whole time and she was the only one with him when he was awake. "That hot chick that was here."  
"Hot chick? What are you talking about? What hot chick?"  
"There was a really hot chick here taking care of me. It was funny, she looked a little like you, but she was much prettier."  
"THAT WAS ME!!"   
"You?" Beat chuckled a bit after a brief moment of surprise. "That couldn't have been you. You're hardly half as pretty as she was. In fact, compared to her, you're kinda ugly."  
  
Gum was shocked. She had never heard Beat be so mean to a friend before. Whenever he was, he was usually just kidding around. And when he wasn't, it was just a minor argument that was resolved the following day. But this, this was not like Beat at all. He had crossed the line.  
  
Choking on invisible tears, Gum slowly back away, shaking her head in disbelief. "Hey, what's with you? You ran out of make up so you could only put eleven layers on?" Beat asked. Finally, unable to keep her tough girl status stable any longer, Gum allowed herself to break down. She skated from the room as fast as she could, tears streaming down her face. She nearly knocked down Cube as she brushed past her, letting out a howl of agony as she disappeared into the streets.  
  
Alarmed, Cube ran back into Beat's room to see what had happened. Beat was passed out again and at first Cube thought that was the cause of Gum's strange behavior. She walked over to his bed side to make sure he was okay. He appeared to be fine, except that his entire body was raging with a fever.   
  
To be continued..................  
  
Please review!   
  
  



	2. Realization

Thanks to all who reviewed! I love feed back! The sooner I get it, the sooner I write. So, if you want to see what happens next, don't forget to review! ^_~

Love Conquers All part two:

Cube had recognized the fever before. Beat didn't seem sick in anyway, so she knew it was caused by infection. 'But what could've gotten infected?' she thought. 'There was his sprained wrist and twisted ank….his leg!' Cube nearly kicked herself for forgetting the injury to his leg. How could anyone have forgotten such an unpleasant sight? Cube cringe just thinking about the bottle sticking out of Beat's leg as she removed his blankets to examine the injury.

It was definitely infected. No doubts about that, but how to treat it? Cube removed the bandage from Beat's leg and placed a hot wash cloth soaked in salt water over it. Lucky for Beat he was unconscious, or it would've hurt like hell! Cube put all of her faith into what she had learned. When she had an infection in her thumb, Coin told her to soak it in salt water and sure enough, it cleared up.

"Coin," she whispered softly. Tears began to fill up her eyes and she angrily wiped them away. 'This is no time to be crying!' she scolded herself. She just couldn't get over her sadness for Coin. He helped her out so much. He and Combo were the only ones who actually gave a rat's ass about her back before she was a GG. Their friendship meant a lot to her. After all, she didn't get much care as a street orphan.

Cube shook her head. 'Now is a bad time, Cube!' She finished cleaning up Beat's wound and bandaged it. She decided to call Garam and see if he had any medicine to help. Surely someone who could get their hands on morphine substitute would have some sort of medicine to help.

"This'll take a few weeks to clear up." Garam said as he finished medicating the wound. Cube nodded and began re-bandaging the wound. "Are you gonna stay for a while?" she asked.

"Can't. Got other plans. But, if you need anymore medicine, you know who to call."

"Right. Where do you get this stuff anyway?"

"Erm, secret! Can't tell! But it's safe I assure you."

"I know. I'll see you later then?"

"Right."

Garam and Cube said their good-byes as he left to do whatever he did. After the bandage was secured, Cube checked Beat's temperature. It was still high, but had gone down a bit. She sighed. Now all she had to do was find Gum and let her know Beat was okay. Unfortunately, she couldn't leave until Tab and Combo came back. They didn't want to leave the garage unattended, especially with Beat in this condition.

Cube took it upon herself to take Gum's place. She had often watched Gum keeping her vigil over Beat. Gum was very good at hiding her feelings, and anyone else would've only seen it as a friend looking out for a friend. However, Cube was not that easily fooled. She saw straight through Gum's mask. She cared greatly for Beat. She loved him. 

Replacing the wet wash cloth on Beat's forehead, Cube heard him moan slightly. He opened his eyes lazily and was still obviously out of it. "Cube, you know who I'm talking about, right?" he asked her.

"What?" she was obviously confused by his question.

"You know, her. That hot chick. That one that looked like Gum, but was much prettier."

"There was no hot chick. Gum was the only one with you."

"Are you serious? Gum said the same thing, but it can't be her. She's much prettier than Gum. In fact, Gum's, dare I say, ugly compared to her."

"Did you say that to her?!"

"Well, yeah. I mean, would you believe it if some guy you thought was hot was taking care of you and then all of a sudden, Combo showed up and said it was him?"

"You told Gum you thought she was ugly compared to the girl?"

"Yeah. And?"

'So that's it,' Cube thought. She had never seen Gum so hurt before. 'I've got to find her.' Cube knew Beat would never say anything like that intentionally. He was delirious. It was the fever that caused him to be so cruel. 'Beat probably doesn't have a clue what he's saying.' She thought. 'I've got to set everything straight, but right now, all I can do is take care of Beat. I just hope Gum understands and comes back soon.' "Hey, are you hungry?"

"A little, yeah."

"I'll go whip something up really quick."

Cube walked over to the GG's tiny ice box and pulled out some cheese, lunch meat, and mayonnaise. As she began constructing a sandwich, she became increasingly worried about Gum. It had been three hours since she disappeared into the streets and no one had seen hide nor hair of her since. Garam said he'd keep an eye out for her, but that didn't settle her nerves much. Gum was in so much pain when she ran off. Who knows what could've happened to her. No one had seen her so emotional. She might not be able to handle it on her own.

Cube returned to Beat's room with the sandwich, which he immediately gorged down. "Yeesh! Someone was hungry!" Cube said as Beat ate the sandwich in record time. "Thanks for leaving me my hand."

"You're welcome." Beat replied with his mouth full. "It think I saw a cat."

"Huh?"

"I think I just saw a cat. It jumped off the ceiling and out the window."

"Um, I think you should probably get some more sleep. It'll be a few more days before you're well."

"That cat was nuts I tell you!" Beat said as he laid down.

"Yeah, yeah."

Sure enough, a few days later, Beat was back on his feet. Other than a scar on his right leg and a couple of random headaches now and then, he was as good as new. The infection had cleared up nicely and the fever was gone. It was his first day out of his room since that incident and, needless to say, he was going a bit stir crazy. He hadn't seen Gum in a while and he didn't exactly remember when she disappeared or even if he visited her at all while he was down. He was in for a very unpleasant surprise.

"Where's Gum?" he asked nonchalantly. He was a bit surprised to find that she out of the usual four other occupants was missing, but when he walked out of his room that morning and only found three of the other borders, he didn't think anything of it. However, he felt a sinking sensation in his stomach when there was an eerie silence after his seemingly harmless question. The others knew that Gum had run away, but Cube was the only one who knew why.

"Beat, can I talk to you outside." Cube said, breaking the silence. Beat could feel his insides twitch nervously as he simply nodded and followed her. Once outside, Cube took a long breath through her nose and turned to face Beat. "Do you remember anything while you were injured? Mainly anything that happened while you were on the morphine substitute.?" Beat gave her a strange look and raised an eye brow. "Morphine substitute? I was on morphine?"

"Well, yeah, for the first week only though. Do you remember anything from that time?"

"Well, I vaguely remember someone taking care of me."

"That was Gum."

"Really? Didn't look like Gum."

"I know. Do you remember anything from the day after we took you off the morphine sub?"

"Not really, no."

"So, you don't know what you said to her?"

"What….did I say?" Beat asked nervously.

Cube sighed and began telling Beat about the awful things he said to her while he was delusional. With each cruel word, Beat's heart dropped. He couldn't believe that he actually said such things to a friend, especially after she had taken care of him. "Well, where is she now!?" Beat asked, nearly shouting. His fists were visibly shaking even as he dropped his arms to his sides. "She just…ran away. We don't know where she went and we've tried looking for her, but we haven't found any clue as to where she could be."

Beat bit his bottom lip so hard, he tasted blood. He stared at the ground and his whole body was shaking. Cube said a few other things, but Beat's mind didn't register them. All he could think about was what he had said. 'I can't believe I said those things, after all she did for me.' He couldn't escape the thought. It kept repeating itself over and over again in his mind like a broken record. Finally, he just couldn't take it anymore.

"I have to find her!" He said suddenly, lifting his gaze from the ground. He dashed off in an abrupt burst of speed. "Beat wait!" Cube yelled, holding out her arm, but it was too late. Beat was already well out of hearing range and was skating down the streets like the world was on fire. Pedestrians made a mad dash to get out of the frantic teen's way and he was nearly hit by cars at least twenty times, but none of that registered with him. All he could think about was finding Gum and somehow making it up to her.

After a long day of searching, night had fallen and Beat was still searching. It was getting close to curfew, but he didn't care. No one really inforced the curfew law that much anymore and the cops would probably be after him anyway for reckless skating. In fact, they had already chased him three times that day. However, even rudies can't out run the cops forever. Beat was getting pretty tired and had slowed down quite a bit, but he still kept searching. He even called out Gum's name a few times, only to get weird looks. Any passer by would've thought the poor boy had lost his mind, but it wasn't the youth's mental health that was an issue. It was the condition of his tattered heart.

Finally, fatigue and hunger had taken their toll on the young skater. Beat wanted to keep looking, but his stomach growled in disagreement and he was about to fall asleep anyway. He carefully made his way back to the garage so as not to bump into anything in his tired state. It seemed like an eternity before he made it back home. He quietly entered the garage so as not to wake his friends and slumped over to his bed. He kicked off his skates, put his green glasses and headphones of a nearby nightstand and collapsed head first into bed. He fell asleep instantly.

His entire body ached the next morning. For a while, all Beat wanted to do was lie in bed, then he remembered Gum. In a flash, he leaped from his bed, changed his unmentionables, grabbed is cranium accessories (that'd be his green glasses and headphones for those of you who don't know what cranium accessories are), laced up his skates and was out the door before anyone could stop him. Just like the day before, he skated around like a mad man searching for Gum. And just like the day before he came home after midnight and was tired, hungry, and still had no clue as to what had happened to the missing GG.

For three whole weeks Beat was out looking for Gum. He barley ate and was depriving himself of sleep. Needless to say, his friends were becoming a bit concerned about his physical and mental health. No matter what they did, they couldn't stop him from going on his daily searches. They were thinking of tying him to his bed or using some other physical means of force to get him to stop, but they had seen how troubled his heart was. Guilt was eating him alive from the inside like a bacteria which grew worse everyday he came home with no trace of Gum. The others, save Cube, still didn't understand why finding Gum was so important to him, but they didn't bother getting in his way.

It was a sunny afternoon in Shibuya-Cho and like everyday, Beat was on his search. He had been skating for six hours straight and his body demanded rest. He plopped down on a bus station bench and turned his wrist watch to 'Jet Set Radio' to keep up with what was going on and to see if Prof. K had any clues which would lead him to Gum's where abouts. "Same old, same old." Beat sighed as he listened to Prof. K's report. No matter how fresh or interesting the news was, he just couldn't get into it anymore. All he could think about was Gum. "I guess it's true what they say. Absents make the heart grow fonder or something like that." Beat mumbled to himself. Recently, he had been finding himself becoming more and more fond of Gum. He often thought about how he had taken care of him and all the times they had been out tagging together; just the two of them. About how they loved to tag the back of Onishima's jacket and play other such tricks on the cops. Mainly, he thought about then he had first formed the GGs. He and Gum were the very first members before they met Tab a few days later. Together, they had built the GGs from nothing. And now, they were quite possibly the hugest and most well known gang in Tokyo-To.

"What's wrong with me?" Beat asked himself as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "I feel so strange. Am I falling for her?" Beat had never really been in love before. He wasn't sure what it was supposed to feel like or if it was even supposed to happen. Sure he had noticed other girls before as he grew, but he didn't feel anything like this. Flashes of the two of them together invaded Beat's mind. He blinked a few times, then squeezed his right hand into a fist. He looked down at his hand and clenched his teeth. "It's true. I love her."

It was the announcement that the Love Shockers were back in town that brought Beat back to reality. He decided to try and find them first before continuing his search for Gum. After all, Gum probably wouldn't like the Love Shockers tagging all over Shibuya-Cho , GG or not she'd most likely do something about it. At least, that was Beat's logic. For some strange reason, he felt that if he found the Love Shockers, he'd find Gum too. She never liked the Love Shockers anyway.

Beat continued to follow the Love Shockers graffiti and covered it up with the GG symbols. He ran out of paint rather quickly and decided to leave the tagging to the others. He just wanted to find the Love Shockers as soon as possible. He could tell he was getting closer as each tag had fresher paint to it. Finally, he spotted them. Beat shook his head and chuckled. "You'd think they'd learn by now." He said as he quietly approached them. 

As he came into closer range, the Love Shockers broke off and went their separate ways to do some more tagging. Only one remained and she began tagging immediately. Apparently, they had not noticed Beat's presents yet. He slowly crept over to the rival gang member and hoped of either driving her off or getting some information out of her. However, as he got closer, he realized there was something different about this Love Shocker. 

'Oh my God! It can't be!' Beat thought in utter disbelief. "Gum!" The Love Shocker turned around to face the rival gang member. Beat found himself at a complete loss for words when he came face to face with Gum, only she was wearing a Love Shocker's outfit. "I…erm…uh….what are you doing?!" Beat stuttered. Gum crossed her arms and gave him the nastiest look she could muster. "What do you _think _I'm doing!?" she yelled at him.

"Why are you doing this? Where have you been all this time?"

"I've been with the Love Shockers dumb ass!"

"But you hate the Love Shockers!"

"I hated them, but they were the only ones who understood my pain. The pain that you caused!"

"I realize that I hurt you, but it was purely unintentional. Please, I want you back."

"The only reason you want me back is because of my skills, isn't it? You don't give a rat's ass about me!"

"That's not true! I was…."

"I don't want to hear it, Beat! I'm a Love Shocker now! Deal with it!"

"Gum wait!"

As Gum turned to leave, Beat grabbed her arm and tried to get her to listen. Gum pushed him away, then slapped him across the face. Hard. "Gum, I…." Beat started, but was cut off when Gum back handed him just as hard as she hit him the first time. Beat moved his hand to his face where he had been slapped the first time. It stung, but he was too out of it to really notice the pain. Satisfied with her work, Gum skated off, leaving a group of spectators in awe. The two had made quite a scene there, and if it weren't for Beat's green sunglasses, the spectators might have seen the tears forming in his eyes.

To be continued……….

Please review! Remember what I said at the beginning of the story!


	3. Confession

I'm glad you all are enjoying this story so much. Please continue to review and I'll get each part posted ASAP as time allows. ~ Bishojo #3

Love Conquers All part three:

Shock and hurt. That was the easiest way to describe it. Not so much shock as hurt, considering the circumstances, but the shock was there. Still holding his hand to his cheek, Beat slowly made his way to the garage. He seemed dead to the world and vise versa. It had to be the worst day of his life. 

It seemed like forever when he finally made it back to the hide out. All he wanted to do was sleep. He was completely exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Perhaps if he got some sleep he'd wake up and find out the whole thing with Gum was just a terrible nightmare. Unfortunately, his hopes of a long and much needed nap were broken when he saw who's turn it was to guard the garage.

"I see you came back today." Cube said as she watched Beat slowly enter the garage. "We hardly see you anymore. Any luck?" Beat wanted to die right then and there. He was having a hard enough time dealing with the fact that Gum had left them and didn't plan on telling the others until at least a few hours later. "Hey! Did you hear? The Love Shockers are back. I can't believe those bitches! Don't they ever learn?" 

"I agree. They are bitches." Beat mumbled.

"So why did you come back so early? You had to have found something, right?"

Beat groaned inwardly. He had to make up a lie and fast, but his brain was just too worn out to function quickly. "No, I just thought I should get some rest before looking again." He cursed at himself silently after he said that. He knew that Cube wasn't going to believe him, but it was the only thing he could think of to say. Cube crossed her arms and eyed Beat. "Well, what happened?"

"I don't really want to talk about it right now." Beat said with an obvious hint of sadness in his voice. This alarmed Cube, who sprinted over to Beat and grabbed his arm. "What happened?! Is she hurt? Dead? What?!" That's when Beat broke down from stress. Not really knowing what he was doing, he pushed Cube away and yelled as loud as his voice would allow him. "She joined the Love Shockers! There! Ya happy now?!"

Cube stood in shock. Both at Beat's anger and at what he had just said. She was completely frozen as thousands of thoughts flew through her head at light speed. Beat was shaking slightly, fighting to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. After a few deep breaths, he looked up from the ground to see Cube still frozen from shock. "I…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell." Beat whispered. Cube nodded slowly, her eyes still wide with disbelief. It took her a while to recover. She blinked a few times then brought her gaze to Beat. He was staring at the floor again, his shoulders were shuttering slightly as he continued to battle the tears. With a sympathetic look in her eyes, she slowly approached Beat and placed her hands on his shoulders. Beat stopped shuttering and slowly looked up at Cube. She smirked slightly and said, "You love her, don't you?"

Alarm grabbed control of Beat's body and he backed out of Cube's grasp as fast as he could. "What do you mean?!" he demanded almost at the point of hyperventilating. Cube shook her head at Beat's stubbornness. "You love her. I know it, you know it. I don't know if you admitted it to yourself yet, but I know you love her. So I suggest you knock off the crap and quit lying to yourself if you haven't because you know what? Gum loves you too." Beat shook his head and took a few steps back. "You're wrong!" he said, nearly shouting. 

"I'm not wrong, Beat. I can sense these kinds of things in people. I watched while Gum was taking care of you. She does love you."

"Loved you mean! Even if what you say is true, she doesn't love me anymore! How could she after what I did to her!?"

"The two of you have been through a lot together. There has still got to be a little place hidden in her heart that still belongs to you. Have faith."

"I broke her heart, Cube!"

"Even broken hearts can be mended."

Beat was at a loss for words. He really didn't have much of an argument in his tired state and Cube was really determined to re-unite the two. "I….I just need some rest." He mumbled as he slowly made his way to his room. "Beat," Cube called out quietly. He slowly turned around to face the girl. "If you haven't admitted that you love her, do it now, or sometime soon. Things will be a whole lot easier that way and I won't tell the others. I swear it." 

Beat slowly nodded and walked into his room. He collapsed onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. Placing his hands behind his head, he sighed. "I do love her. I have no problem saying that to myself, so why can't I admit it to Cube?" he asked himself, only to have something slimy lick his arm in reply. Letting out a small startled cry, Beat bolted into a sitting position to see just what had licked him. "Potts! When did you get in here?" The dog put his paw on Beat's lap and looked up at him. Beat patted the dog on the head and sighed. "I guess I don't have any problem admitting it to you either. It's not like you'll tell anyone. Right?" The dog didn't reply, but it wasn't as if Beat was expecting him too. Just to have someone there listening and knowing he won't say anything rude or interrupt, that was enough for him. "I don't understand why Cube thinks Gum may still have something for me. She herself saw how hurt she was. I don't think anything I do can get her to forgive me. I don't deserve it either. But, Gum's not as passionate as other girls are. Maybe if she knew why I said what I said, if she knew that I didn't really hate her. At least then her heart wouldn't hurt so much. Even if she doesn't want to be with me, just knowing that her heart has mended some is good enough for me. I've got to let her know that I'm sorry, but how?" Beat sighed as he settled back down into his bed, replacing his hands behind his head and staring up and the ceiling. "She won't even listen to me." He muttered as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Beat awoke a few hours later to the sound of several people conversing in the main area of the garage. It wasn't just Tab, Combo and Cube either, it was everyone. Mew, Garam, Piranha and the others. They were all there. 'Do they know?' Beat thought as he slowly got up. After stretching and yawning a bit, he went into the other area to see what was going on. 

The group seemed in deep conversation about something. They were so engrossed with the current topic that they didn't even notice Beat's presence. He cleared his throat in hopes of getting their attention. "What's going on?" he asked when they temporarily stopped and looked in his general direction. Mew closed her eyes tightly and clenched her fists. "Gum's with the Love Shockers! I saw them!" she said, her voice straining from anger. "Why? Why would she join them?"

Beat threw a quick glance at Cube as if to ask if she told the others or not. Cube read his silent message and shook her head. "I promised I wouldn't tell them." She mouthed. Beat nodded and looked at the ground. It was his job to tell them, but he wasn't quite ready to have everyone know just yet. "I can't believe that bitchy traitor.." someone in the group mumbled. 

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Beat yelled after hearing that. The entire group fell silent, clearly frightened of their unofficial leader. He had his teeth and fists clenched as he scanned the room. "She….she's just a little confused right now." He said, trying to keep his anger in check. "We have…to help her, and I have a plan to get her back. All I need you guys to do is get the Love Shockers out of hiding. Can you do this for me?" The others nodded in unison. "Thanks. I'll give you all the details later." With an okay, the others resumed chatting amongst themselves. During the group wide conversation, Beat pulled Combo and Cube aside. "What's up, Kid?" Combo asked as the three of them shuffled off to an unoccupied corner of the garage. "I need you guys to do something for me." Beat replied, barely over a whisper. Combo and Cube glanced at each other briefly and returned their gaze to Beat. "We're listening."

Center Street in Shibuya-Cho. While the others were off tagging over the Love Shocker's graffiti, Beat, Cube and Combo were working on the more essential part of the plan. "Throw me up another can of paint!" Beat yelled to his friends on the ground. Combo, being stronger than your average man, had the ability to throw small objects for incredible distances and heights, and thus, had no trouble tossing can after can of spray paint from ground level to Beat, who was on top of a rather tall store. This rather tall store had a very large billboard on it, which could be seen from anywhere on Center Street and sometimes even Park Street. A perfect place to post a message you want everyone to see, or in this case, one particular person to see.

Meanwhile, in their own hide out, the Love Shockers were about to do the final step in initiating Gum. "Are you sure about this?" Gum asked as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Don't worry. Your hair will dye very easily." A fellow Shocker replied. Gum smiled lightly as the others hurried to get the pink hair dye ready. She closed her eyes and chuckled slightly as she gripped the left sleeve of her casual clothes. The clothes she wore as a GG. "You don't want to get your nice Love Shocker outfit stained." One of them had said, and she agreed. "Who needs the GGs?" she asked herself softly.

She sighed softly and tried to relax as the radio played in the background. The music was helping her to clear her mind a bit, that is until Prof. K broke in with breaking rudie news. "This just in! The GGs are re-tagging over all of the Love Shockers graffiti and one of them is painting something on the large billboard on Center Street." 

"WHAT?!" the leading Love Shocker screamed out, startling the others. "I am so sick of this!"

"What do you expect?" another asked. "Those GGs have bloody persistence."

"Well this time is going to be different! This time we are actually going to fight them! Shibuya-Cho will be ours! Let's go!"

"Wait. I don't have my Love Shocker out fit on." Gum said.

"There's no time to change. Besides, I think it would be rather appropriate for you to smash the GGs wearing your so called 'GG outfit' or something. Don't you think?" Gum smiled and nodded, grabbing her trade mark hat before heading out the door.

Beat had just joined Cube and Combo back on the ground to view his work. He couldn't help but think that the whole idea was lame, but it was the only way to get Gum to listen to him. He grinned slightly at the simplicity of it all, as he looked up to see the billboard he was just tagging covered in bright red spray paint that spelled out the following: I, Beat, am sorry and I love thee, Gum, with all my heart and soul. "Are you sure the 'thee' is really necessary?" Cube asked, scratching the back of her head.

"Hey, chicks like guys who are into literature and Shakespeare and stuff like that. Makes 'em look intellectual." Combo replied.

"Well, I personally think it's the character that matters and not the intellect." Cube retorted, crossing her arms. "Besides, if all girls looked at intellect, you'd never get a date."

"Yo, that's cold kid."

"Will you guys knock it off!" Beat interrupted. "This isn't the time or the place."

"We're just playing Beat!" Cube said, putting her hands up. "We do this to each other all the time."

"I know, I know. I'm just a little nervous."

"That's understandable, kid." Combo said, putting a friendly hand on his shoulder. 

Beat was about to say something, but was cut of by some sort of ruckus down the road. "They're here!" Cube said with a strain of anger in her voice. "Let's go!" Cube and Combo skated off to take their places. After slight hesitation, Beat followed them. "I hope this works." He mumbled to himself. The Love Shockers began their attack upon arrival. Two skated off to take care of Park Street while Gum and the leading Shocker reclaimed Center Street. Covering up her former gang's graffiti with Love Shocker symbols felt so odd to Gum, but it was something she had to do. 'I'm no longer one of them.' She thought to herself as she drew her spray can around. 

The leading Shocker grinned as she stole a quick glance behind her and saw her newest member covering up GG tags without being phased at all. However, her grin quickly disappeared when she turned back around and saw the message painted on the billboard. She then remembered what Prof. K had said during his announcement. 'One of them is painting something on the large billboard on Center Street.' "Damn! If Gum sees this, she might go back!" She looked back at Gum who was still busy painting over the GG tags. "We can't have that, now can we?" she said as she narrowed her eyes.

Just as Gum had finished up her tag and was about to move on, she was confronted by her new leader and friend. "Gum, why don't you take care of Park Street and send one of the other girls up here?"

"Um, okay." Gum said baffled. Usually when the leading Shocker made a position change, there was an obvious reason for it. But Gum didn't question, there had to be a reason for the leader's decision and it wasn't in her position to question anyway. "GUM!" She was brought out of her small train of thought when the sound of her name being called cut through her brain. "That sounds like…" she muttered as she began to turn. "Gum, you need to get to Park Street now!"

Gum was about to follow her order, when something bright red caught her attention. Only after reading the first four words, she pushed the other Shocker down and dashed up the street. "Damn!" she muttered as she got to her feet. Using her two way wrist radio, she called for back up. "Girls! I need you both on Center Street now!" she hissed. "Will do boss! Over and out." Seeing that Gum had heard him, Combo dashed back into his hiding place with Cube. "Christ! I had no idea you could yell so loud Combo!" Cube said rubbing her ears. "Ah cram it!" Combo growled, then looked back up at the sign. "Well, it's all up to Beat now."

When Gum had reached the top of the sloped street, she stood there out of breath as she read the rest of the message. Over and over again she read it, a million thoughts flying through her head. 'He loves me?! How can he? He said I was ugly. But, he says that he's sorry and he's not one to lie. I guess I could believe that part about him being sorry, but how could he love me? It does make sense. Do I still love him? I'm not so sure anymore.'

The sound of someone clearing his throat from behind caught Gum's attention. She slowly turned around and let out a slow breath when she saw who was there. "Beat." She said just barely over a whisper. Beat swallowed nervously and slowly approached the girl he loved. "Do you mean that? What you painted I mean?" She asked with a shaky voice. He continued to walked towards her until he was within arms range of her. He slowly lifted his hand to her face and gently caressed her cheek. "I meant every word of it." He said softly.

"You…love me?"

"I do Gum. I do."

Gum let out a shaky breath and looked away from the boy. Tears began forming in her eyes, but didn't threaten to fall. Her breath became a bit rapid and raspy. "But…those things you said.." Gum was cut of short as Beat sealed her lips with his index finger. "Those things I said," he began as he slowly turned Gum's head so that she was once again facing him, "were horrible things to say to anyone. I had no idea what I was saying. At the time I was delirious. An infection had formed in my leg and my whole body was over run with a fever. I don't even remember what I said exactly. But, when Cube told me what had happened and why you ran off, I was devastated. I spent three whole weeks looking for you and in that time, I realized how special you were to me. I apologize for the things I said and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me." 

Blushing slightly, Beat moved the hand he had behind his back into viewing position and presented three red roses before a startled Gum. Her eyes softening, Gum took the gift from Beat's hand and held it gently. She then leaned in closer to the other teen. "Of course I forgive you, Beat. I had no idea you were delusional. I suppose it's my fault for not noticing. You weren't acting at all like yourself." Beat shook his head and gently brushed away the tears that were starting to drop from her eyes. "It's not your fault. You shouldn't beat yourself up over it. But, I have one more thing to ask you."

"Yes?"

As if a trigger had been pulled, Beat suddenly became more nervous than ever. His whole right hand was shaking as it slowly made it's way to his pocket. Gum watched intently, wondering what could have caused the boy to get so nervous so suddenly. Beat reached into his pocket and slowly withdrew something concealed in his fist. "Gum," he turned his gaze to the girl, who nodded silently for him to continue. Beat held out his shaking fist and slowly opened it, revealing a beautiful gold band ring with a white diamond cut resting in his palm. "A commitment ring." Gum gasped quietly. "Gum, will you do me the honor of leading the GGs by my side?"

With a shaky hand, Gum slowly took the ring from Beat's hand and examined it closer. Her gaze went back and forth from the ring to Beat. Finally, the realization of what was happening hit her. The guy she loved didn't hate her after all and was, in fact, confessing his own love for her! Gum threw her arms around Beat and hugged him tightly. "Yes!" That was all she could say, and all that was needed to be said. "I think we should give them a bit of privacy." Cube whispered to Combo. The latter nodded and the two quietly skated off to join the other GGs in the bus terminal.

Gum slowly released Beat. He held her right hand with both of his and slowly slipped off her glove. Taking the ring from her grasp, he gently slid it on to her finger. Gum sighed happily as she gazed upon her newest and favorite piece of jewelry. She closed her eyes and blushed as Beat wrapped his arms around her waist. He pulled her in for a warm embrace and Gum rested her head on his chest, listening to the rhythmic sounds of his heart. It was perfect.

It was the sound of a devastating strike and a painful gasp from Beat which caused Gum to open her eyes. "Got him!" a Love Shocker cried, holding a rock in her hand. Beat slid down to the ground in total shock. "Oh my God!" Gum cried as she leaned forward to check if Beat was okay, but before she could, she was grabbed by two Love Shockers who drug her off. She struggled, but the combined strength of both of them overwhelmed her. "BEAT!!"

The other GGs eventually got tired of waiting around in the bus terminal and wanted to see for themselves just what was going on. That's when they heard Gum's cry. In unison, they all sprinted into a mad dash down the street. As they turned onto Center Street, Cube and Combo were in view and skating back the way they had come. The other group sped up to catch the other two who arrived on the scene just in time to see Beat lying on the ground and the Love Shockers carrying Gum off. 

The rival gang zoomed right by the other GGs, who did a double take to make sure they were really seeing what they were seeing. "They got Gum! Someone go after them!" Cube yelled at the others. Piranha, being the fastest and slickest skater, silently volunteered as she screeched down the hill in a blur. The others joined Cube and Combo at the top of Center Street.

Combo was helping the dazed Beat to his feet. "What happened?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head. Cube raced up and grabbed Beat's shoulders, nearly frantic. "The Love Shockers kidnapped Gum!" she said as calmly as she could. "What?!" he screeched. Cube nodded her head slowly and was gently pushed out of the way by Beat. He was about to dash down the hill after the rival group, but Combo held him back. "What are you doing?!" he practically yelled at the other rudie.

"Don't worry. Piranha's already on their trail." Cube explained. "Besides, it would be a good idea if we had a plan before we rushed into things."

"And you just suffered a pretty bad blow to the head." Combo added.

It took a lot of convincing, but eventually, Beat gave in and reluctantly headed back to the garage with the others. His head was starting to hurt badly anyway. He slouched as he drug his feet over the pavement. With his teeth and fists clenched, he stared at the ground as he walked, kicked the occasional pebble around. He felt so helpless. He wanted to do something, but irrational thinking would've only made things worse and he knew that. He just hoped that Piranha would come through for them. Before entering the garage, he took one last look at the sky. "You'll pay for this Love Shockers." He muttered as he clenched his fists even tighter and narrowed his eyes. "When I'm through with you, you'll wish you had never been born!" 

To be continued……

Please review! Your feedback is so refreshing to the writer's soul!


	4. The Rescue part one

Thanks to all readers! Man, this new chaptering system's got me kinda messed up. Here's the name of each chapter since the new system screwed up the original names I meant to put there

Chapter One: Care and Hurt

Chapter Two: Realization

Chapter Three: Confession

Chapter Four: The Rescue part one

Beat paced back and forth in the garage. He was supposed to be resting after receiving that blow to the head, but he just couldn't sit still. In times like this Beat always had to be in action some way or the other, and lying in bed was no where near enough to calm his nerves. Of course, pacing around wasn't doing him or anyone else much better. The others sat on the other side of the garage, watching Beat pace back and forth and not daring to say a word knowing how anxious he was.

"What is taking her so long?" Beat said aloud to no one in particular as he brushed his hand back over his forehead. The others sighed silently. They knew Beat was being as patient as he could, but when he asked where Piranha was and what was taking her so long every thirty seconds it really began to grate on everyone's nerves. Still, no one said anything. They all shared a bit of Beat's anxiety. After all, Gum had just been kidnapped and even if she left the GGs, her safety was most likely at risk. No one, save Cube and Combo, knew why Beat was taking it so hard though. They each had their own theories to explain his behavior, but they had no idea how right they were.

Old jump ropes and robe sashes, as simple as they were, effectively held Gum to a chair in the Love Shocker's HQ. The Shocker's had roughed her up pretty bad, but that didn't seem to bother her. She chuckled silently as she recalled the looks on their faces when she temporarily freed herself from their grasp and socked their leader right in the face. Even though she only had enough time to get in a few punches and kicks before she was overwhelmed by all three of them, it was still satisfying to her. 

Her chuckled faded into a small grin of sadness. She still didn't know what had become of Beat or what the Love Shockers were planning to do to her. The young memory of her giving their leader a bloody lip was the only comfort she had right now. That, and when Beat had held her after confessing his love. She knew that if Beat was okay, he'd come and get her. He and maybe the other GGs if they weren't mad at her. She could clearly remember the shocked and angry face of Mew when she saw her skating around with the Love Shockers.

The sound of a heated, yet quiet, conversation in the other room brought Gum back to the present. She leaned forward in the chair and strained to hear what they were saying. They were talking about her, she just knew it. However, she was rather perplexed when the conversation between one Love Shocker seemed to be one sided. 'She must be talking to herself,' Gum thought 'or, she might be on the phone.' She sunk back into her chair, getting pretty close to the point of panic. If they were talking to a third party by phone, than whatever they had in store for Gum had to be bad.

"Piranha! What took you so long?!" Beat was on her right when she entered the garage. He lunged at her and grabbed her shoulders tightly as if to shake information out of her. Beat's numerous questions shot out of his mouth so fast Piranha couldn't understand a word he was saying. "Hey hey hey! Let go 'a me!" she said as she knocked his hands off of her shoulders. Beat took a few deep breaths and calmed down a bit. "Sorry….well? What'd you find!?" Beat finished off a little more anxious than he had wanted and dropped his arms to his sides. Piranha walked over to a wall and leaned up against it, crossing her arms and legs. She threw a quick glance at the other occupants of the garage, who were just as anxious as Beat despite their higher level of self-control. She closed her eyes and faced away from them. "Their hide out is on the other side of Shibuya, pretty close to Kogane. They're hiding in a tenement near the west edge of what was once Poison Jam's turf. You'll know it when you see it."

"Right. So, did you see Gum? Is she okay?"

"That building don't have any windows and they already got her inside by the time I arrived."

"Is it just them?"

"Yeah,"

"Well then, let's go."

"What a second," Cube broke in. "I think we should have a plan before we rush over there."

Beat sighed silently, but slowly sat down anyway. He wanted more than anything to bust over there and kick some major Love Shocker ass! However, Cube was right. Attacking another gang without a plan or any idea what they might have up their sleeves is a stupid and dangerous thing to do. Beat slunched back in his chair and crossed his arms. "So, any ideas?"

The leading Love Shocker, Petna, drummed her fingers on the desk as she tried to reason with the person on the other end. "I'm making you a good deal here. What's wrong with you?"

"I just don't know if I can trust you or not."

"Look, I'm helping you out here. I'll help you capture all of the GGs and all you have to do is protect us from them."

"How do you know they'll come?"

"I've already got one right here. Consider her, collateral. C'mon, you know you can't catch them on your own."

The other person grumbled a bit at that remark and sighed angrily. "Alright alright! You've got a deal! But, you'd better…"

"Don't worry about it." Petna interrupted. "I'll hand the GG I've got to you the minute you arrive and when the others come to save her, you'll be ready for them." After receiving a sigh in agreement from the other, Petna hung up the phone and smiled. "Perfect! Those GGs have no idea what's in store for them!"

Onishima released his grip on the phone and grunted. The last thing he wanted to do was accept help from another one of those damn rudies, but he didn't really have much of a choice. The pressure on him to put the rudies behind bars was intensifying and rumor had it that if he didn't get at least one of them locked up by the end of the month, he'd lose his job. "Are you sure we can trust those rudies, Captain?" asked a young, but loyal female officer. It wasn't that Seisna mistrusted her superiors judgment, she was just concerned about his physical well-being. He had been very stressed out lately and that didn't do much good for his mental and physical health.

"Well, to tell you the truth, no." he replied, shuffling a few papers into order. "However, we don't have anything to lose. They told us their exact location and I doubt they'd do that unless they meant business."

"True, unless they're planning on taking you and our best men out." 

"I doubt a bunch of rudies would be able to do that, but you're probably right. So, if they do not hand over that prisoner rudie they were talking about immediately, we'll arrest them."

"Aren't we going to arrest them anyway?"

"Not now. If those, what were they again?"

"Love Shockers sir?"

"Right, Love Shockers. Well, if they can help us capture those GG kids, then they might be of assistance in the future. We'll take them all out one gang at a time! Once they're all behind bars, those Love Shockers will join them!"

"Brilliant in it's simplicity, sir. I'll call in the best men we've got."

Petna sat at her desk and patiently awaited the arrival of the keisatsu. While she seemed rather confident in her plan, the others differed greatly. "Are you nuts? Why would you invite the cops over here?!" one of them shouted. Petna simply shook her head and turned to them, smiling evilly. "We're leaving."

"What?" the other two asked in unison.

"Every year at the same time we leave Tokyo-To and every year we come back. We'll get the cops to play along with us and, when they aren't looking, skip town. This time for good."

"But what about Shibuya-Cho?"

"Who cares what happens to Shibuya? All the GGs will be in jail and our revenge will be complete. Just as long as Shibuya is no longer home to the GGs, that will be good enough for me."

The sound of several cars pulling up outside ended the conversation and had the two other Shockers looking at their leader nervously. "Don't worry, I'll handle this," Petna responded motioned for the other two to follow her. Gum had also heard the cars and was getting a little nervous herself. She had no idea what was in store for her and the evil look on Petna's face when she walked out of the room didn't help. Petna slowly walked over to Gum and placed her hands behind her back. Smirking evilly, she chuckled softly as she spoke. "Have we got a treat for you,"

Beat was lying on his bed resting the back of his right hand on his forehead. He was supposed to be sleeping, but who could sleep at a time like this? Piranha had been sent back to the Love Shocker's HQ to check up on the conditions there, then report back letting the others know if anything strange was going on. It was Cube's idea. It was also her idea to send Beat into his room to get some rest and, preferably, sleep as well. Beat sighed as he stared at the plain garage ceiling. He had been doing this a lot lately and he never really noticed how interesting the ceiling can get when you're bored, or worried out of your mind.

A sudden crash at the entrance made his heart leap in his chest. He bolted up and rushed to the main area where the frantic chatter of his friends boomed. Piranha rested her hand on the door frame and her other hand on her thigh, trying to catch her breath. However, her lack of oxygen did not stop her from reporting the sudden change at Love Shocker HQ. "The….whole place is surrounded…by cops.." she panted.

"Cops? You mean the keisatsu arrested them?" Combo asked.

"No. For some reason, they made a deal with…Onishima."

"Onishima!? Why in the world would they do that?! What's going on?!" Beat yelled from the back of the room.

"I don't know. I couldn't hear very much of it. Just that they're planning a trap for us. I don't know what's in it for the cops, perhaps the chance to catch us. But why they'd trust the Love Shocker's I don't get."

"Gum. They're probably using Gum!" 

"That's the only reason I can think of."

"We need a plan leader guy!" Yo-yo piped from his corner of the garage.

Beat mumbled something inaudible and sat down. The cops, just what they needed. It was going to be hard enough getting Gum out of there unharmed. It was obvious that the Love Shockers had no pride, or else they wouldn't call in the keisatsu to fight their battles for them. While his heart came up with a thousand irrational and dangerous strategies, Beat's brain was coming up with nothing. He tried to keep his emotions in check, but that was proving to be very difficult. With each second gone by, his heart ached more and more. At one point, he almost sputtered out one of his heart's ideas, but caught himself just before any sound could pass through his lips. With his mind a complete mess, he did the only thing he could do. "I do have an idea, and if we don't mess up, not even once, we just might pull it off."

Every officer posted at the Love Shocker's HQ stood ready and determined. This might be it, the day they caught an entire gang. This would no doubt lead to a promotion at the very least. All they had to do was overtake and capture the GGs. Easy, right? Unfortunately for our police force, they made some pretty quick assumptions about the GGs, despite the many times they have evaded arrest. And these particular teens were not ones to be taken lightly. However, the leading patrolman, Shinji, realized this a little too late. "What the hell just happened?!" an officer exclaimed as he heard a clunk and turned just in time to see Shinji slide to the ground unconscious. Fearing his friends may have suffered a heart attack or some other medical ailment, he rushed to his side.

He knelt down beside Shinji as a few random officers went over to back him up. He appeared to be fine, he was breathing at least. However, when the officer realized that there was another sound of breathing that was neither produced by him or Shinji, it was too late. Just as he lifted his head to ask if anyone was hiding in the shadows, he saw a flash of skate wheels flying towards his face, then darkness. "You've got a mean kick, Garam." Mew commented. "Hold it right there!" one of the back up officers said as he reached for his gun, only to be plowed into the wall by Combo while Tab and Cube wrestled the other two to the ground. A Synchronized ambush. It wasn't the best idea there was, in fact, it was pretty stupid and dangerous. But it was the least dangerous and irrational idea Beat's heart came up with and thus the one they went on. The gist of the idea was that the strongest and/or most skilled GGs would render the cops unconscious one by one while the weaker GGs delayed/distracted the cops. Simple strategic, but very difficult to execute. There was no room for error. 

While Combo knocked out the two cops Tab and Cube had pinned, the others skated around the remaining cops in a patternless format to distract and confuse them. The remaining cops began chasing the young skaters and they formatted into three groups with no distinguished number. They skated off, then skated back, then skated in different directions while tripping or knocking them down as they skated by. The nearby S.W.A.T. Team sprung into action and grabbed their gear. It was at this time that Piranha, Beat, Cube and Tab realized that they were in the crosshairs of the S.W.A.T. Team's gas spewing rifles. But, seeing as how they each had an officer held down by the neck, they decided to use this situation to their advantage. Now, it's common knowledge among rudies that the S.W.A.T. Team had adopted Onishima's temper, so only after they fired their first round of tear gas did they notice that the very kids they had shot at had a few of their fellow officers in custody. The four rudies, having been used to being sprayed with tear gas, managed to escape and cough whatever gas had gotten into their lungs out easily. The other officers, who were not so accustom to it, were too weak to move and slid to the ground unconscious.

While the members of the S.W.A.T. Team were disgusted with themselves for endangering their comrades, Combo shot up behind them and slammed one of them into the ground. The other's turned around and began to overwhelm Combo, until Garam slid in and tripped a few of them up. While Combo and Garam headed the frontal assault, Piranha and Slate came up from behind and strangled a few into submission. Meanwhile, the remaining officers were chasing Mew down. She swerved left and right to frustrate them and managed to cause a small collision between two clumsy officers. Out of nowhere, Beat and Tab flew in like the Blue Angels and tackled a random cop simultaneously, sandwiching him. While he was pinned between the two teens, Cube skated up and hit one of the pressure points in the back of his head. With three cops still on her tail, Mew dropped down abruptly and tripped them.

"What is with these kids? I've never seen them act this aggressive." Spoke a lonely cop of to the sidelines as he observed the battle. "I'd better contact the captain,"

"I don't think that will be necessary." Said a voice from behind him. Without thinking, he turned around just in time to receive a harsh kick in the face. Fumbling backwards, he felt sudden pain grab his fingers as his radio was kicked out of his hand. Yo-yo tackled the guy to the ground and began pummeling him, however, the other cop proved to be stronger than the youth and pushed him into a nearby wall. Just as he got back to his feet, he slid back to the ground, revealing Combo standing behind him.

It was unbelievable. They had actually won. A group of rudies had actually beaten the cops. Sure, it was only a small number of cops and S.W.A.T. members and they didn't escape minor injury from the fight, but they had won. "Let's not try anything like that again." Said Mew as she rubbed her sore arm. The others nodded in agreement, but Beat was completely silent as he prepared to bust down the Love Shocker's door. "Let me handle this one, kid." Combo said, placing a hand on Beat's shoulder. Beat looked up at him, and slowly backed away, extending his hand in a gentleman like factor. "By all means," he said in a mockingly polite fashion. It was always good to have someone like Combo around. Somehow, he always managed to bring out the lighter side of Beat, even in times like these.

All three Love Shockers jumped out of their skin as a loud bang filled the air. They turned their gaze to the door and froze at the sight of Combo, who had just busted the door off of it's hinges, and Beat who had brushed past the latter and now had his sights on Petna. Petna tried to make a dash for the back door, but Beat caught her and pinned her to the wall. Socks and other articles of clothing littered the floor, apparently the Love Shockers had been packing. "Where's Gum?" Beat screamed at Petna, banging her against the wall with each syllable. She looked at her capture with pure terror in her eyes, as did the other Shockers who were too scarred to move. "How…d,did you get past the cops!?" Petna mustered up the courage to ask, only to be back handed in reply. "Tell me where Gum is now!" Beat yelled, once again banging her against the wall to punctuate each word. The back of Petna's head was starting to hurt, and she could see that Beat as well as the other GGs were getting angrier each second. She decided that it would be best not to provoke them any further. "We, turned her over to…Onishima." She whispered, bracing herself for the hit. 

And the hit did come. Hard. Beat punched her right in the face as he screamed every profanity he could think of. He was ready to kill her. Literally. And he probably would have done it too, had Combo not stepped in. As Beat pulled his hand back for a second punch, he felt Combo's arm grip his wrist and his other arm as well. With his arms tied up at the moment, Beat resorted to kicking Petna, which forced Combo to slowly pull him out of striking range. "It's not worth it, Beat." He said in a rational voice. "I don't think they'll be messing with the GGs ever again." Petna slowly slid to the ground, blood slowly flowing from her nose and mouth. Beat began to calm down under Combo's hold and he was eventually released. He glared at Petna and turned to leave in silence. The other GGs began to pile out of the small room, each mumbling something. Just as Beat reached the door, the slowly turned and looked straight at Petna. "Never show your face in Tokyo-To again." His voice was so monotone, but there was something threatening about it. Something that sent a chill up the Love Shocker's spine. With her eyes still wide with fear, Petna shook her head, her breath raspy and short. Beat growled at her one more time, then slowly turned to leave. 

::Gasp:: Gum's been handed over to Onishima! How will the GGs rescue her? What will happen to Gum? Find out next time in Love Conquers All Chapter five: The Rescue part two! You'd better get ready!

Gene Starwind: Hey! That's my line!

Sorry. Please review!


	5. The Rescue part two

Yes, I know. I'm such a slacker! Here, as promised is the next action-packed part!

Love Conquers All chapter five: The Rescue part two

The remaining GGs piled into the garage in silence. The sun was just setting and the evening was about to begin. The temperature was beginning to drop, which wasn't going to make their current situation easier. Just after they pulled of a risky move, they had to make another plan. This left each GG furiously annoyed.

"The security around Gum might be a little tight, seeing as how the keisatsu have been after rudies for years." Cube started. "So here's what we'll do," Beat broke in, stopping Cube in mid thought. "One of us'll go to the station, in disguise of course, and check things out. I nominate Tab because he looks liked he'd be related to Gum."

"What?! I do not look like I'd be related to her!"

"Trust me, you do."

"Well, what's that hafta do with anything?"

"You can go disguised as her dad or something."

"I do not look like anyone's father!"

"It doesn't matter! Just go to the station as her father or brother or something and ask to see her."

"Why do _I_ have to do it?"

"Because you owe me one! Anyway, while Tab's checkin' the place out, the rest of us'll stand by. Garam, you're good with technical stuff right?"

"Yeah, no sweat for me!"

"Think you can shut down the security system?"

"Sure. All the circuit breaker needs is a few wire adjustments."

"Good. All right, here's the plan…."

Gum stared up at the ceiling from the bench in her cell. She was laying on it with her hands behind her head and her left leg hanging of the side. Everything had happened so fast. First there was Beat's confession of love, then the kidnapping, and now she found herself rotting away in jail. It had been hours since she was turned over and now she was bored out of her mind.

She had done a lot of thinking in those hours. About Beat, her current predicament, how and if she was going to break out. Just like with the Love Shockers, Gum gave the cops a bit of hell too. One good kick in the groin made one cop go down, and a swift kick to the shin sent another one cursing. That was about all the damage she could do. She sighed roughly at the thought. She was disappointed that she couldn't get any good punches or even a kick on Onishima. Still, they had learned that when dealing with a rudie, even the females can be dangerous. 'Serves 'em right. They should've been more careful to begin with.' Gum thought, a sly smile creeping across her face. 'They only saw the lady in me, so I had to show them the tiger.'

"Hey punk!"

Gum quickly sat up to see a lower rank officer standing out side her cell. "Your father's here to see you." Gum hid her confused expression and nodded. She stood up as the cop left, leaving her with a strange looking man. "Okay. Just who are…."

"Gum, it's me." Tab said, taking off a bit of his disguise as proof. "We're gonna bust you outta here!" A wave of relief swept over Gum. She was going to get out of this forsaken hell hole and the others weren't upset with her. At least not at the moment, but no one of that mattered. "How's Beat?" she asked quickly, as the thought suddenly returned to her mind. "Uh, he's fine. Trust me. The guy's got more energy than ever since you were kidnapped. This whole thing was his idea! I mean…LOOK!! Look at what I'm wearing!"

Gum placed her hand over her mouth as she snickered lightly. The sight of Tab dressed as a forty year old really was something else. She suppressed her laughter when Tab gave her an annoyed look. "Anyway," he continued, "we're working on getting you outta here as we speak, so just hang in there, okay?" Gum smiled and nodded. Tab's visiting time was just about up, so they bid each other farewell quickly and Tab made his exit. Gum returned to the bench and sat down. Her heart was racing with excitement. She was going to get out and Beat would be waiting for her. The hardest part was going to be the waiting. 

Cube sighed silently as she casually made her way to the police station. Tab had just reported on the current situation at the station and Beat immediately sent everyone to work. The latter was walking beside her, mumbling to himself, and occasionally looking at the darkening evening sky through his green sunglasses. Cube did not like her part in the plan at all. While Beat was going to wait just outside the station, and Garam was in the back alley, trying to disable the alarm system, she had to seduce the guard into a false sense of security. This wasn't exactly the best thing for her self-respect, but she'd die before she let her friends down. Besides, she was the best pick-pocket the GGs had. She had to do it, she was the only one who could.

He was a new recruit, about twenty one. Young and new, but he was determined to prove that he was no push over. That he did well, that is why he was appointed as the security. However, even with his high discipline, he was still known to get distracted. 

Ken drummed his fingers on his desk. Thing were boring as usual. He glanced around the room, at the clock, at his desk, back at the clock, out the window. He exhaled gently through his mouth as he restarted his gaze path. The clock, the desk, the clock again, out the window…..wait a minute! Ken caught his breath in his throat when he saw something outside the window. Something that looked like a young woman. A very beautiful young woman. A very beautiful young gothic woman which was walking up the stoop of the police station and towards the glass doors.

Cube pushed the doors open and dropped her arms to her sides. She looked straight at Ken and smiled slyly. She had obviously gotten Ken's attention, despite how he tried to hide that fact. She grinned and slowly made her way to his desk, swinging her hips slightly in a seductive way. 'I feel like such a tramp,' she thought as she placed her hands on his desk and leaned forward. "I wonder if you could help me," she said in a helpless way. Ken's eyes widen shortly, but he quickly covered it up and cleared his throat. "What..may I help you with young lady?" Cube smirked and slid to the side of his desk. She sat on the side, facing him slightly, and placed both her hands on her chest. "My brother's been kidnapped. I don't know what to do." She leaned in closer, causing Ken to scoot back a bit in surprise. She grabbed the arm of his chair to stop him and leaned towards his face. "Surely you know what to do." She placed both of her hands on the arm rests and faced him. "Well?"

"I..I'll have to get someone to help you file a report." Ken said, trying to get up. Cube pressed the middle of his chest and forced him to sit down. She ran her hand over his chest and wrinkled his baggy shirt a bit. "You can file a report, can't you?" Her hand started to move down his torso. "Can't you?" Ken fumbled for words. He tried once again to stand up, but decided to give in and leaned back in his chair. "I'll see what I can do." Cube suddenly spun away from him, putting her back to him as well as a good five feet between them. She closed her hands into fists and rested them both on her collar bone. "I knew you'd help! My brother, I will find you!" She slowly turned her wrist towards her and lifted it to her mouth. "Beat, I've got his keys," she whispered into her wrist radio. She turned around again, placing her hands behind her back. Slowly, she crept towards Ken, who prematurely sat back in his chair. She leaned in, closer and closer. Ken froze when their foreheads touched, but allowed himself to relax. After all, it wasn't everyday something like this happened to a guy. "Thank you," Cube whispered, closing off with a kiss. This time, Ken was prepared and readily kissed her back. He never noticed the young teenage male who had just walked past them.

Beat swiftly made his way through the halls. Adrenaline rushed through his veins, making him a bit shaky. It was only a matter of time before the guard noticed his keys were missing. There was a very high chance that Beat would run into a random officer. His greatest fear was that that officer would be Onishima. Never the less, Beat continued through the halls, backing into corners now and then to avoid detection. He pushed his fears to the bottom of his skates and found the holding tank in no time. 

Disturbing looking captives snickered as Beat skated by. Many of them gave him nasty looks, while others looked cracked out of their minds. One man was leaning up against the wall with his elbow, and whistled as Beat went by, making the young teen cringe slightly. "Beat!" He pushed his surroundings out of his mind as he skated towards the source of the sound. There was no doubt in his mind who's voice that belonged to. He braked quickly and snapped his head to his right. Leaning up against the wall with her arms and legs both crossed and that unforgettable smirk on her face, was Gum. "Man, what to you so long?" she said in her casual voice. 'Looks like she's back to her old self.' Beat thought as he shuffled through the key cards. Not that Beat minded at all. It was the old Gum he had fallen in love with, and it was the old Gum he wanted to be with. Beat found the card key labeled for Gum's cell in no time and slid it through the lock on the wall. Immediately, the light on the lock switched to green and the cell door slid open.

Gum flew out of the cell and wrapped her arms around Beat. She felt his strong arms snake around her body in a protective manner. They couldn't have been happier to see each other. To be held by one-another. To know that the other was all right. It was just the thing they needed to recover from the hellish events of that day. It was the only thing they needed. "Let's get outta here." Beat whispered to Gum. She released herself from his embrace and nodded. Side by side, they skated down the hall towards freedom. Freedom, if they got out, tomorrow promised to be a great day for them both as they would begin their new life together. However, a sudden cut of the lights stopped them both in their tracks. Just as the lights went out, all of the cell doors in the holding tank opened. The captures piled out of their cells cheering for whatever force had granted them freedom. Beat and Gum skated in a panic to find someplace safe, but that proved impossible. With maniac suspects on the lose and a small army of police trying to regain control, there was nothing the two teens could do. They were quickly swallowed up by the mob forming around them.

Garam skated as fast as he could to the front of the police station, where the other GGs were waiting. "What's going on?" Mew demanded when she was him coming full force. "Something's gone wrong with the circuits! I must've crossed the wrong wires or something. Everything's gone nuts!" Without another word, the remaining GGs piled into the station to rescue their trapped friends. 

Cube stood in a corner to prevent any sneak attacks. Armed with a chair, she fought of wave after wave of officers and suspects. "W….what's gotten into you?!" Ken asked from his position on the floor. "I'm sort of busy right now if you haven't noticed!" Cube said as she hit another oncoming attacker with her weapon. "But I thought that…"

"Shut up!" 

Cube threw the chair at three officers and skated by them, knocking them down as she flew by. She found herself standing one on one with on of the officers. She narrowed her eyes and raised her fists, only to be laughed at. This poor guy didn't know how good a fighter Cube was. She charged at him and punched him right in the face. She then kicked him in the stomach and knocked him right in the jaw. She got in a few more punches before she found herself pinned to the ground by two more officers. She felt cuffs ready to encircle her wrists, when suddenly, the two men holding her were gone. The pressure from them just lifted away. She stumbled to her feet to see Combo by her side, holding an officer by the collar in each hand. He was backed up by the remaining GGs who fearlessly charged into the fray. "Looks like the cavalries here!" Cube said too herself as she joined the others on the battle front.

Beat and Gum pushed their way through the mob. They held on tightly to the other's hand so as not to lose one another in the riot. Beat fought fiercely to protect Gum while Gum fought back to protect him from attacks to his blind side. The spirit to fight and protect was so strong in the both of them that officers and suspects alike generally stayed away from them. Finally, the made it to a clearing. It was a small room, but big enough to comfortably move around. "Are you okay?" Beat and Gum asked each other in unison. "I'm fine," Gum said casually, but she knew that Beat didn't believe her when she felt his hand against her cheek, caressing a newly acquired bruise. "That's nothing," she said, gently removing his hand from her face. "What about you? Are you okay?" 

Beat was about to answer, when a sudden strike from a very large object silenced him. Both Beat and Gum were sent flying after the tackle, Gum was knocked to the ground where her hat slipped off of her head, while Beat stumbled back, hitting the wall. In the moonlight, he got a glimpse of what had hit them. An unconscious suspect lay on the ground, blood streaming down his head and his eyes closed. He sighed with relief when he saw Gum getting back on her feet and uninjured. But the relief was quickly crushed when he saw a figure enter the room from the right. It was Onishima, and he didn't like the way he was looking at Gum. Oddly, it was almost as if the very sight of her frightened him.

It was hard to make out who the blonde haired girl was in the moonlight, but Onishima knew it was her. Kalistrano. She was a murderer at large and they had lost three good men trying to bring her in the other night. Kalistrano had ice running through her veins and wouldn't think twice about killing a small child with her bare hands. And now that she was out of her cell, who knew what she would do. Onishima had only one choice. He reached into his jacket and felt the handle of his large automatic, which he only used on rudies. Of course, rubber bullets were not going to stop this killer. He reached further into his jacket and gripped his hand around the handle of his 9mm glock. This was his final resort gun. His killing gun. He didn't like using it, but a keisatsu's gotta do what a keisatsu's gotta do.

Gum's eyes grew large when Onishima removed his hand from his jacket. She would've expected to see his hand gripping the automatic, but he was in fact holding, froze her in her spot. It was also the look Onishima was wearing. Fear mixed with a sense of duty and killing. Something none of the rudies had ever seen Onishima do. He held the gun in front of his body, the barrel pointing straight at Gum's chest. Straight at her heart. Beat saw this too, as well as Onishima's finger slowly putting pressure on the trigger. Everything seemed to go into slow motion now as Beat lunged forward with his left foot. He skated as fast as he could, pushing hard on the floor with his feet. He could her the clack of his skates on the floor as well as the beating of his own heart in his ears. Each sounding as slow as a clock, each filling his brain with their sound in a pattern. At the same pace, at the same time. His breath hissed through his teeth and his mouth was becoming dry. Slowly, ever so slowly, he saw himself getting closer to Onishima's target. Gum. He extended his right arm to try to reach her. He pushed himself forward one more time, and made contact with her body. Only when she felt his arms around her did Gum realize that Beat had rushed towards her. 

All grew silent as the sound of a shot range through the jail. The smell of gun powder invaded the air and blood splattered the tile floor. A hot pain shot through Beat's arm as he stumbled forward. He saw himself falling, taking Gum along with him. As she hit the ground, she supported herself with her elbow. Beat's body came into contact with Gum's, providing him with a soft landing. Beat straightened up a bit, to get some of his weight off of Gum, and looked to his right. For some reason, Onishima was no longer there. He was long gone.

Gum's arms slipped under Beat's and helped him up. He stumbled a bit from his sudden new position and leaned up against Gum for support. Beat unconsciously lifted his left hand to his right shoulder. He cringed at the pain that shot through his body and slowly pulled his hand away. His hand was moist with some sort of warm and sticky liquid. He didn't need to look at his hand to know it was blood, but his eyes automatically took his gaze there. There was blood, a lot of blood, covering his hand and soaking into his black glove. He felt his right sleeve damp and clinking to his arm and the life-giving fluid gushed from his wound and dripped down his arm, making a large puddle on the floor.

Beat's body suddenly went limp again, and Gum held on to him tightly to keep him from falling. Beat rested his head against her chest and looked around the dark room. Gum was silent, and he could've sworn that he had heard Tab's voice from behind him. Suddenly, he was taken from Gum's support and Tab slipped under his left arm. Beat regained his balance as he put a small percentage of his weight on Tab. He shook his tired state from his head and allowed the others to guide him out of the jail, and back to safety. 

The GG garage was busting with activity that night. Beat sat in a chair biting his tongue, trying not to let the pain get to him. Garam, Mew, and Cube were trying their best to safely remove the bullet from Beat's shoulder, but the only way to get it out was to dig it out. Needless to say, that was a pretty painful procedure and Beat was losing a lot of blood. Combo pulled tightly on the belt around Beat's arm, trying to slow the blood loss, but it wasn't much help. Gum stood in back of the group, watching helplessly. This time around, she would've volunteered to assist in a heart beat, but there was nothing she could do. The only ones with any medical knowledge that went beyond simple first aid were Garam, Mew, an Cube. She only would've gotten in the way, which would only make things worse for Beat. 'This is all my fault. This whole thing is my fault!' Gum thought bitterly as she stared at the ground, not wanting to see her poor love bleeding. 

"We got it!" Mew cried in triumph as she pulled the bullet out of Beat's arm. Immediately, Cube and Garam set to work on cleansing the wound and bandaging it up. Beat gritted his teeth as Garam applied an alcohol soaked cloth to his shoulder. The bleeding was starting to go down a bit, but he had lost a lot of blood, the reason being why Garam pressed so much on the cloth. Cube unraveled a spool of gauze while Garam removed the cloth and placed a clean cotton patch over the wound. Cube wrapped the gauze around Beat's arm tightly and tied it off, making sure the patch was secure. Combo release his grip on the belt and Beat sighed, glad that it was over.

Beat welcomed the soft and warm feeling of his bed. The others had helped him to his room and Gum placed a soft blanket over his body after taking his skates off for him. She pulled up a chair and sat down, glancing about a bit to make sure the others had left. "How do you feel?"

"Not bad. A little on the tired side," Beat replied weakly.

"I just hope you don't get an infection. That's how this whole thing started."

"If I do, feel free to smack me upside my head if I say anything dumb."

Gum smirked and chuckled a bit, but then grew serious. "Beat, I'm sorry. It's my fault you got shot." Beat looked at her, a bit surprised, and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I've been hurt worse than this before. Besides, it was worth it and I'd do it again in a heart beat." Gum smiled, but not her usual smirkish smile. Her rare passionate smile. The smile she never showed until Beat confessed his love to her. "Thank you," she whispered, which she topped off with a kiss on his cheek. However, Beat never felt the kiss or heard her 'thank you'. He had already passed out.

To be continued…..

Hmm, is it just me or does Beat pass out a lot in this fic? Oh well. Please review! 


	6. Recovery

No, I didn't forget about this story. I thought you peoples forgot about since no one has been reviewing ::hint hint:: but here's the next part anyway.

Love Conquers All: Recovery 

It was well past midnight and the streets of Shibuya-Cho were, for the most part, silent. Every now and then, a car would drive by or a group of people would walk down the dark streets, talking loudly amongst themselves. A few neon signs lit up the night along with the street lights, but other than that, the only light was provided by the full yellow moon.

It was this very moon light that lit up the back alley where the GG garage stood. That and one lone stoop light, which was in desperate need of repair. The garage was dark that night. Everything was silent. Tab, Cube and Combo had gone to bed earlier that night and Potts was sleeping peacefully in his kennel. Everyone was asleep. Everyone, but Gum.

She sat silently and tall, resting her hands in her lap. The entire time, she never took her eyes off of Beat. Aside from the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, he hadn't moved at all. Not one bit. This concerned Gum. Beat was not exactly a still sleeper. Even when he was injured, Beat would always squirm a bit in his sleep. Of course, he wasn't exactly asleep.

Gum scooted her chair closer to the bed and placed her hand on Beat's arm. No reaction. Not that she expected him to react, but it would've eased her mind a bit. Fatigue was nipping at the back of her brain, but she refused to give in. She wanted to be there when Beat woke up. If he woke up. 'Stop thinking like that!' Gum told herself firmly. 'He'll be okay.' Gum told herself that several times, but now she wasn't so sure she believed it. After all, he had lost a lot of blood. 'Stop worrying Gum! Beat's tough, he can make it.' She forced all negative thought out of her head and focused on Beat, but even as the thought of him dying during the night left her brain, the sleep demons crept in, and she found herself nodding off. She rubbed her face with her hand and tried to stay awake, but she could tell she was losing. 'I suppose if I go to sleep now, I'll wake up before he does.' She slowly slipped out of her chair and kneeled by Beat's bed. She leaned forward and put her arms on the bed, then leaned her head down being careful not to injure Beat's shoulder any further. She rested her head on her arms and closed her eyes, listening to Beat's steady breathing. She lifted her left hand and placed in on Beat's arm. Still no reaction, but she just wanted to be close to him. Finally, ready to give into fatigue, she fell asleep.

The sun was shining over Shibuya as usual. The city was back to it's busy, day-time self and people crowded the streets. Birds chirped from the trees and filled the air with a some what natural feeling. "I hate birds," Tab mumbled grouchily. He was not a morning person. "Oh, cry me a river!" Cube said as she walked out of her room, running her fingers through her hair and yawning. "But they're so annoying! Singing their stupid little songs!"

"Get over it! They're birds! That's what birds do!"

"Christ! Do y'all need to start bickering already?" Combo said.

There was an uneasy silence that followed. The only sounds in the garage came from outside. The three of them looked at each other. The second their eyes met each other, the quickly glanced away. "I wonder how Beat's doing," Cube whispered suddenly. The other two looked at her, then at the ground. "I wonder if he's even still alive," Tab muttered.

"Of course he's still alive!" Cube said suddenly. Her gaze fell back to the floor. "Why wouldn't he be?" she asked quietly. They each wanted to check on Beat, but no one wanted to disturb Gum. They felt as though the two of them deserved their privacy, and no one wanted to intrude.

Through the uneasy silence, the sounds of the birds chirping made it to the back of the garage. That was the first thing Beat heard when he slowly opened his eyes. He moaned slightly as he blinked. He was feeling pretty light headed and his shoulder ached. He allowed his eyes to close as he took steady breathes. The air felt unusually clean in his lungs as he readied his body to take in his surroundings. The dizzy feeling reduced a little, even as he reopened his eyes. Everything seemed normal. He was still in his room in the garage, the only difference being that it was morning. The soft blankets ruffled a bit as he leaned his weight on his left arm, trying to sit up. He supported himself on his elbow and radius* when he noticed there was a strange warmth on the right side of his bed.

*The radius is one of the bones in your arm below the elbow. I'm not sure if I got the correct bone though. It's been over a year since I took Biology 1-2!

It was also then when he discovered the soft sound of someone breathing. He grinned and relaxed his body a bit when his gaze wandered to the source of the sound. Sleeping peacefully, with her hand on his arm and her head resting on the bed, was Gum. 'How like her,' Beat thought, as he repositioned himself. When he had balanced himself on his left arm, he slowly nudged the sleeping girl. She slowly began to stir and Beat nudged her again to make sure she was waking up. Her eyes blinked open and she yawned a bit in response. She placed her left elbow on the bed and rested her forehead in her palm. She ran her hand over her eyes and lifted her gaze. Her eyes softened the second they came into contact with Beat. Her face took on a relieved manner as she sighed silently. He was okay. He made it through the night.

Gum slowly rose to her feet, her eyes never leaving Beat. She didn't need to say anything. He didn't need to say anything. The only words that needed to be said already hung in the air between the two. "I'll be right back," Gum said softly as she turned to leave the room. She took one quick glance back at him over her shoulder as he smiled and slowly lowered himself down into his bed. He closed his eyes and took a few more deep breathes as he heard Gum leave the room. He could hear her talking to the others from the main area, but his brain was just to worn out to make out what she was saying. A few seconds later, he heard someone enter his room. He was expecting it to be Gum, but he was just too lazy to open his eyes at the moment. However, he felt obligated to do so when his visitor lightly shook him on his left shoulder. 

"Hey man, how ya feelin'?" Tab said when Beat opened his eyes. Beat smiled lightly to match Tab's expression. Being the only males when the GGs were first born, Beat and Tab had become best friends. No matter what, they were always there for each other. Whether it was covering the other's back in a street fight, or creating diversions to throw off the cops. They had developed a deep bound in their previous battles, it was almost like they were brothers. "Not bad. Just a little tired, and hungry." Beat's stomach grumbled to add emphasis to his claim. He groaned inwardly; he hated it when his stomach growled. It was embarrassing. "Cube's already got somethin' cookin'. I'll go see if it's ready." Tab said as he stood up to leave. "Thanks," Beat said with a sheepish grin. He was in desperate need of fuel anyway and he was sure to feel better after he ate. "I'm just amazed our sorry ass excuse for an oven still works." Tab added as he exited.

Just as soon as Tab left, his presence was replaced by Gum. She glided over to her chair, carrying pillows in each hand, and sat down. She set them on the floor and began to help Beat into a sitting position, placing the pillows behind his back to support him. "Does your shoulder still hurt?" Beat gingerly rubbed the muscle below his wound, which had started to ache from stiffness, and massaged it a bit. "It doesn't hurt as much now. It should be fine in a few days. I think…" Beat's thoughts were interrupted when Gum carefully linked her arm around his neck and gently hugged him, which she topped off with a kiss on the cheek. Beat was taken a bit, but he wasn't really all that surprised. He grinned and slowly turned towards her. "And that would be our first kiss?" Gum chuckled and leaned in closer to him. "No," she rested her forehead against his. "This would." Gum closed her eyes and prepared her lips to make contact with Beat's. He did the same as Gum placed her hand upon his cheek and tilted his chin up slightly. Their lips had just brushed up against each other when, "Soup's on!"

Letting out a startled gasp, Beat and Gum quickly turned away from each other as Cube, Combo, and Tab entered the room, carrying a tray of food. Looking between the two, Tab could've guessed what they had been doing, but he decided that it would be best not to say anything at the moment. "Sorry I couldn't come up with something a bit heartier than oatmeal, but I figured you'd be really hungry." Cube said as she set up the tray by Beat's bed. "Don't worry about it," Beat replied immediately. By silent cue, he ushered the others out of his room and they left without hesitation, once again leaving Gum and Beat alone. "You need help with that?" Gum asked as Beat cringed a bit as he reached for the food. "No, I'm fine," he replied, even as his right hand shook trying to support the bowl. Gum rolled her eyes a bit and took the bowl from his grasp, as well as the spoon he held in his left hand. "No way! I am **not** going to be spoon fed!" Beat stated in a dominate, yet at the same time humorously childish manner. Gum sighed and shook her head. "Oh come on! You're acting like a two-year old! You need to eat." She said in an equally forceful manner. "Now open your mouth."

Beat growled as Gum tried to spoon feed him. He hated feeling helpless and patronized, but he soon gave in. The concerned look in her eyes had really gotten to him and he was just too hungry to put up much resistance. He just hoped that someone wouldn't walk in and see him being spoon fed by his new girlfriend. Too much humiliation to deal with in his condition. But that concern seemed to just fade away as he became a bit more relaxed. Gum scraped as much food out of the bowl as she could and held the spoon out.. Normally, Beat would've just taken the spoon from her and fed himself, but now, he just didn't seem to care as he licked the spoon clean. He was feeling much better and the reasons why he had fallen in love with Gum refreshed his memory bank. When the bowl was all clean, Gum handed Beat a glass of orange juice which he greedily gulped down. He sighed contently and laid back, ready to fall back to sleep. Gum removed the extra pillows supporting him and helped him lay back down. She kissed him on the forehead and made sure he had enough blankets to keep him warm. "You gonna be all right?"

"You worry too much, Gum." Beat mumbled sleepily as he clutched the blanket with his left hand and pulled it over his chest.

"Need I remind you that you've been shot? Why shouldn't I be a little concerned?"

Beat grinned at her slyly. "You spoon fed me, Gum." He said quietly.

"Well then," Gum said as she crossed her arms "remind me to let you starve next time!"

Gum shut her eyes tightly and turned away, her arms still crossed in a mockingly offended manner. She sat up straight and tried to block out the snickering from behind her. She fought to keep a straight face, and slowly turned around to see Beat, snickering through his teeth. A smile forced it's way onto Gum's mouth and she dropped her arms. "There's no win with you, is there?"

"Not that I know of!" Beat laughed. He gritted his teeth to try to silence the laughter and Gum sighed. Finally deciding to take matters into her own hands, Gum leaned over and quickly kissed Beat on the lips. Beat's laughter quickly died down and a more serious expression replaced his grin. "We never got to finish that." Beat mumbled, but was once again silenced when Gum sealed his lips with her own. He gently kissed her back and Gum tightened the seal around their mouths. The kiss slowly became more and more passionate. Beat sat up, leaning against his left arm, and ran his right hand behind her head, despite the pain in his shoulder. Gum placed her hands on the bed and allowed Beat to pull her closer to him. Beat had been asking himself if he should slip his tongue into her mouth and Gum's kissing technique was as though he was daring him to do so. He cautiously slipped his tongue in between her lips, ready to pull back if necessary, but Gum welcomed the warm feeling in her mouth and responded by doing the same. In that moment, the world seemed to shut off around them. Nothing mattered. Whether the garage had suddenly caught on fire, or the others had walked in and were secretly video taping the whole thing. None of that mattered. They had each other, that was all that mattered.

Beat and Gum slowly pulled away from each other. Beat exhaled lightly as he laid back down and Gum gently ran her fingers over her lips. "Think we should tell the others?" Gum asked, still holding her hand to her face. Beat closed his eyes and rested his left hand on his stomach. "About us, you mean?" he said without even facing her. Even though his eyes were still closed, he could sense Gum nodding her head. He reopened his eyes and turned his head towards her. "They're bound to find out sooner or later. Might as well get it over with. But first, I need some sleep."

Gum skated through the bus terminal and jumped on the hand rail of the catwalk. She glided over the rails and leapt into the air. Landing on one of the metal roofs above the buses, Gum sat down and scooted over to the edge, hanging her legs over the side. She left the garage so that Beat could get some sleep and decided to catch some fresh air while she was out. She needed to do a little thinking anyway. Her head was a mess.

She stretched her arms out over her head and leaned back. She gently rolled her back against the roof and placed her hands behind her head. The sky was clear that after noon, save a few clouds. A normal day, that wasn't really normal at all. She listened to the sounds of people talking below her. Today probably didn't seem much different from yesterday to them. The didn't know about how much had happened in the past few days. They didn't know about how close Gum came to losing someone she loved last night. They didn't know, and they didn't care. If Beat had died, they wouldn't have cared. No one outside the GGs would even think to morn his death or any other GG's death. Hell, they'd probably celebrate it. Who needs worthless street punks in the world? Gum narrowed her eyes. "And they wonder why we tag all over their precious material possessions. If only they knew." Gum sighed. All those new expensive cars always looked much more appealing with a GG tag. It was a rudies last cry for recognition, but at least they got it that time around. "Those sons of bitches don't know how lucky they are."

Gum sat up suddenly and stretched her body. She would've been more than happy to go on a tagging spree that day to release some pent up tension, but now was not a good time to cause trouble. "Maybe next week," Gum said, grinning evilly after spying some prep's new sports car. The look on the faces of spoiled preps was just one of the perks to being a rudie. She stood up and looked at the sky. It was still early in the afternoon, probably around two or three. "Couldn't hurt to skate around a bit more before heading back," she mumbled to herself as she headed towards Center Street. The record store had just gotten a shipment of the latest CDs from one of those boy bands and the area was sure to be swamped with shallow preppy girls screaming their heads off over a stupid CD, and tormenting the likes of them was just the kind of cruel fun that Gum longed for at the moment. She wished she had someone to video tape it.

Beat's eyes blinked open and he yawned unconsciously. He scanned the room for his crappy, but trusty digital clock. "Geez, no wonder I feel like I've slept for days," he mumbled as she shifted in his bed. It was already four in the afternoon, but Beat was feeling a lot better than he was that morning. His right arm was still a bit stiff, but the pain had gone down a bit. Supporting his weight on his left elbow, Beat pulled himself into a sitting position. He moved his right arm a bit to ease the stiffness and get some blood flowing back in. His shoulder still hurt a lot, but it was mainly just stiffness that caused such discomfort. "You're up." The familiar voice made Beat jump a bit. He looked up to see Tab standing in the door way. "Tab, where is everyone?"

"Well, Combo and Cube are still here," Tab pushed himself off of the door frame and over towards Beat's bed. "the others are off somewhere, probably at home, and Gum went skating a few hours ago. She really needed to get out."

"I know. Could you get everyone here? I need to make an announcement. And find Gum for me."

"No prob bro! I'm on it!"

Tab pushed himself across the floor and ripped towards the door in record time. "Wait a sec!" He placed his hand on the door frame to stop himself an turned towards his friend who had called him back. Beat chuckled nervously and wore his sheepish grin from that morning, as he gently rubbed his stomach. "Could you get me something to eat first? I'm starved."

Gum slid over the pavement on her trusty skates, satisfied with the terror she had caused earlier. Nothing like a bit of trouble making to set your mind free. She slowly made her way back to the garage, stopping herself before reaching the alley. She glanced around a bit and casually made her way between the bagel shop and the photo center. The clack of her skates echoed through the alley as she made her way towards the garage. As she drew closer, she heard what sounded like a discussion among her fellow GGs. Curious and some what concerned, she dashed towards the entrance.

"There you are," Piranha said as Gum stepped into the GG HQ. "We've been looking everywhere for you. Beat says he has to make an announcement and he wants you there." Gum felt an alarmed sensation hit her stomach. She knew what this meant and she wasn't sure she was prepared for it, but Beat was right. It's better to get it over with and let everyone know of their love for each other rather than having them find out. She nodded at Piranha and made her way to Beat's room. A trail of GGs followed her as if they were dogs and she had the scent of meat about her. This bothered her, but they were going to his room anyway. She tried to brush the feeling off of her as she walked into Beat's room. 

He was sitting up in bed, talking to Tab about something, when he noticed Gum. A small smirk spread across his face and he motioned her to join him at his side. "I've been looking for you for like an hour!" Tab said in an annoyed tone. "Sorry. Didn't know you were looking for me." Gum mumbled. Tab sighed inwardly and got up from his seat to make room for Gum. By this time, all of the GGs had made it into Beat's room, making Gum a little uncomfortable as she sat down. She shook a little when she felt something warm run along her left wrist. Looking down, she saw Beat's hand upon hers as he was leaning closer to her. "Show them your ring." He whispered. Gum shot him a quick glance with her eyes and found herself struggling for words. "Show them your ring." He repeated.

Gum closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. 'It's now or never. Let's just get it over with.' She held the back of her right hand out to her friends, and she slowly began to remove the glove. Cube and Combo gave each other a sideways glance as they could pretty much guess what was on her finger and who it was from. Gum felt the cold air hit the fingers as she yanked her glove off. After hearing the surprised gasps from the others in the room, she opened her eyes to see them all fixed on her hand. "Who gave that to you?" Mew said in wonder, her eyes shimmering. Gum opened her mouth to speak, but was stuck on what she should say, if she should say anything at all. That's when she felt the pressure on her left hand. Beat held it snuggly and reassuringly. "I did." He said quietly, just loud enough for everyone to hear. But before the others had a chance to react, Beat continued. "She will be leading the GGs by my side. After all, she is an original GG. We were together from the beginning. She may seem a little arrogant and even a bit harsh on the outside, but inside she is loyal and I wouldn't trade her friendship for anything in the world. I love her."

Gum looked at Beat some what surprised, but then relaxed after what he had just said totally registered with her. Her eyes softened by his words, she sighed contently, not knowing or caring about the other's reaction. Needless to say, they were shocked, but in no way displeased with the current turn of events. Gum could've sworn she even heard them applaud a bit as she drifted into her world of oblivion. She had a lot of thinking to do. She and Beat had a lot of thinking to do about the future.

To be continued…..

Hah! Bet you thought that was the end, didn't you? Not quite! Beat doesn't have a lot of money on him, so just where did he get that ring? Did he steal it? Was it passed down to him? Did he just happen to find it? Or did he just convince an old friend of his to buy it for him? Find out next time! Please review!


	7. Beat's past

Even though the previous parts have been rated "PG-13" this part is rated "R" because it has to do with Beat's past and it's pretty gruesome

Even though the previous parts have been rated "PG-13" this part is rated "R" because it has to do with Beat's past and it's pretty gruesome. I warn you, this chapter contains violence, blood, drug usage, strong language and strong sexual themes. Please do not read if you are easily disturbed or offended or if you are under 15 years of age.

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Everything in Italics represents Beat's narration of his past.

Love Conquers All: Beat's Past

Beat and Gum sat on the roof of the garage, watching the sun set in silence. Beat was well enough to walk and suggested that they watch the sun set as well as get a bit of privacy. The others had taken their relationship well and teasing was kept to a minimum. All and all, it was a perfect way to end the day.

Gum had kept her glove off ever since they told the others of their fondness for each other. She glanced at her new ring periodically, still unable to believe all that had happened. The ring looked as good as new. It had to be at least $1000. That's when it hit Gum. Beat didn't have that kind of money. How on earth did he get hold of such a thing? She glanced over at Beat, who was still looking at the sun set and not aware of what was going through her mind at the moment. She didn't really want to ask him, that just seemed rude to her, but she had to. She had to know how he got that ring. For all she knew, he could've stolen it. If that were the case, the cops would be after the GGs more fiercely now. She had to know.

"Beat?" she said in a quiet voice, still debating whether she should really ask him or not. "Mmm?" Beat didn't even take his eyes off of the sky when he replied. Gum chewed her tongue for a while, still not sure how she should phrase it. Any way would sound somewhat rude and she didn't want to seem ungrateful, but she still thought that she had a right to know. The best way to do that was to be nice and direct. "Where did you get this ring?" This time, Beat took his gaze from the orange sky and slowly turned towards Gum. "I didn't steal it if that's what you're wondering."

"Well, I, I mean, you don't really have that kind of money. I was, well, I don't want to seem ungrateful or accuse you of anything and,"

"It's okay. I didn't steal it, I assure you."

"Well, where did you get it?"

"That," Beat paused, letting out a small, sad chuckle. "is a long story. Would you like to hear it?"

"Well, if that's all right with you."

"All right then. Here goes,"

//////////////////////Flash back//////////////////////////////////////////

A young woman, about 19, lay in a hospital bed. Another young woman, about 21, was standing next to her, trying to offer her support. The woman in bed had light red hair, drenched with sweat as she screamed in agony. She was in labor.

"You're doing good Miaka. Hang in there." Said the woman beside her. She was a bright young woman with light brown hair. Her skin was slightly tinted with a tan and she had rich green eyes, filled with concern for the Miaka, the woman in labor. The woman who just happened to be her sister. 

"Shut up Sakura! Just shut up!" Miaka screamed. Her light green eyes burned with hatred and pain. Her skin was pale and her red hair flailed as she jerked in agony. "Why did this have to happen? I never wanted to get pregnant! I never wanted some fucking baby to ruin my life! Why couldn't it have died or something?!"

"Don't talk like that, Miaka!" Sakura scolded her sister. "You should never talk about a baby like that. Babies are wonderful things!"

"You take it then!" Miaka yelled. "I don't want it!"

"That's just what I'll do then! I dread to even think about a baby in your care!"

"One more push, Miaka." The doctor couched from the end of the bed. Miaka's screams echoed through the hospital halls as she pushed the young life form from her body. "It's a boy!" the doctor declared, holding up a newborn baby. "Congratulations."

"Hear that, Miaka? A boy!" Sakura said, holding her arms to her chest.

"I don't care!" Miaka yelled. "I don't want to have anything to do with the disgusting thing! You're taking it, remember?"

"Fine, you'll regret this in a few years if you decide to change your life style."

"We're taking the baby to the nursery now." The doctor said as he handed the baby to a nurse. "Have you thought of a name for him yet?"

Miaka grunted and turned her head away from everyone. Sakura, on the other hand, smiled. She had been thinking about it a lot and thought of several boys' and girls' names. Finally, she could only decide on one she liked. "His name is Hiro. Hiro Yagami."

******

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That's how my life started. I was unwanted by my own mother and by my unidentified father, who left before I was born. My aunt, Sakura, was kind enough to take care of me. I will always be grateful to her.

******

"Aunt Sakura?" Sakura turned around at the sound of a little voice calling her. She turned around and smiled at the sight of her five-year-old nephew looking up at her. "What is it, honey?" 

"How come all the other boys and girls at kindergarten have a mommy and daddy and I don't?"

Sakura bit her lip at that. She had never really prepared herself for answering that question when Hiro was still so young. However, she believed that he should know the truth about his parents. "Sit down, Hiro." She said as she sat down and patted her lap. Hiro climbed into his aunt's lap and cuddled up against her chest. "You see, Hiro, your mother doesn't always appreciate everything that she has. I was hoping that she would change her life style, but she still hasn't."

"She didn't want me, did she?" Hiro asked, his bottom lip quivering a bit.

Sakura sighed and shook her head. "No, she didn't. She doesn't realize how special you are. One day, she'll realize it, though. She'll regret not being here."

"What about my daddy?"

"Your father," Sakura swallowed, not sure how she should phrase it. "well, your father was not a nice man. He used your mother for his own needs and then left her. He doesn't realize how special you are either."

"Why don't they?"

"They just, don't. Some people are narrow minded, Hiro. But that doesn't matter. Always remember that you are very special to me and I will always love you."

******

__

I never did forget what my aunt told me that night. Her love was unconditional. It didn't matter to her that I was born out of wedlock or that the identity of my father is still unknown to this day. She saw me as she saw the other kids. She thought every kid deserved love and a chance to succeed. She was the most kind and understanding person I've known.

******

Sakura returned home one night, looking much happier and radiant than usual. She was full of life up to her head as her hair spun around her shoulders as she turned. It was a great day for her indeed. "Aunt Sakura!" Hiro ran across the room, happy to see his loving aunt who scooped him up in her arms and gave him a big hug. "Hi Hiro! I hope you weren't too much trouble for the baby-sitter now. Were you?" Hiro fiercely shook his head, causing Sakura to laugh at his antics. "He was no trouble at all." A young teenage girl said as she walked to Sakura to say good-bye and collect her payment. "How much do you I owe you?" Sakura placed Hiro on the floor and dug into her pockets. "Twenty six dollars should do it. I actually had a really great time looking after Hiro. Call me again some time." Sakura handed the baby-sitter her payment and bid her farewell, promising to call her again.

"Aunt Sakura? Why are you so happy?" Hiro's voice dripped with curiosity as usual. Sakura smiled and walked over to the couch, patting a place beside it. Hiro ran over to the couch and joined his aunt. She sighed happily and extended her right arm. On her finger rested a beautiful ring with a golden band and a small diamond settled in the center. "What is it?" Hiro asked, his eyes wide and bright with wonder.

"It's a commitment ring, Hiro." She paused, bringing her fists to her neck as she closed her eyes, still passioned by the gift. "Aiko gave it to me tonight. A commitment ring is a symbol of strong bondage between two people. It means that they are ready to look out for each other's needs. It's just one step behind getting an engagement ring."

"Does this mean you're gonna get married?"

"It looks like that. Maybe he'll be ready to propose to me soon. I hope so."

Sakura got silent suddenly, almost as if she had just remembered something. She slowly lowered her hands and rested them on her lap. Hiro looked up at his aunt through the uncomfortable silence. She was breathing through her nose and staring straight at the wall. "What's wrong, Aunt Sakura?" Hiro's voice was shaky with concern. Sakura smiled gently and turned towards her nephew. "Hiro," she began with a sad smile. Her friend, who just happened to be medium, told her that something terrible would happen to her in the future and that it would likely result in her death. She didn't see any reason to believe it, her friend was wrong 54% of the time anyway, but she had done a lot of thinking. "if something should happen to me, I give you my ring. Keep it with you and give it to a special lady in your life. My spirit will travel with you within this ring, and your heart." 

Hiro was very confused by his aunt's words. He didn't think anything would happen to her, nothing bad anyway. Why would anything bad happen to her? "Promise me you'll do that for me, Hiro." He glanced up at his aunt, surprised and still confused. He looked at the floor, not sure what to say. He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do. It didn't make sense to him. Then again, it all seemed so easy. All he had to do was keep the ring, but how would he know when to do it? If something bad happened to her? Like what? Hiro shook his head free of the attacking thoughts. His aunt had done so much for him, surely he could do something so simple for her. He lifted his gaze from the carpet and met his aunt's eyes. He smiled, nothing bad could happen to her. "Okay, Aunt Sakura. I promise!" 

******

__

That had to have been the peak of my aunt's life. Everything was going perfectly for her. She had graduated from Tokyo-To's top University and was promised a great future with her boyfriend. But that all changed so quickly. She didn't even see it coming. I'll bet she didn't even know what hit her. 

******

It was late February and the snow was falling lightly on the streets of Tokyo-To. Even though the day was cloudy, the sun still lit up the sky to a point. The afternoon was young and the streets were busy as usual.

Sakura and Hiro were just returning from the pediatricians for Hiro's annual check up. The day was nice and the air seemed uncharacteristically crisp and clean. Hiro had just turned six a few weeks ago and Sakura had just purchased a new apartment. She had a good paying job as a graphic designer and she had a feeling Aiko was going to propose any day now. Things were looking good.

Hiro gripped onto his aunt's hand tightly. He always felt so safe and secure around her. She smiled as she held her nephew's hand snuggly, her new snow boots making footprints in the sidewalk. Hiro enjoyed listening to the sound of her boots crunching the snow under her feet. He tried to get his boots to mimic the sounds of hers, but the little guy just couldn't keep up with Sakura's pace. She laughed quietly at her nephew's cute antics and caught him when he nearly slipped. She steadied him back onto his feet, when a sudden cry caused her to jerk her head around.

Pedestrians scrambled to get out of the way of something heading up the street. Through the crowds she could barely make out what appeared to be the figure of a man dashing down the side walk like mad. That's when she heard it. Gunfire rang out through the air. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the 9mm in his right hand. Unable to think clearly, she stood up quickly, ready to get herself and her nephew out of there.

Then another shot rang out through the streets. Sakura arched her back as she stared open mouthed and wide eyed at the sky. She dropped to her knees and fell flat on her face. A puddle of blood surrounded her face and neck when she hit the pavement. It soaked into the snow and splattered onto a nearby shopping window. Sakura was dead. 

Hiro watched in horror as his aunt collapsed to the ground, covered in her own blood. The bullet shot her in the back of the neck and cut right through it, hitting it's intended target, the gun brandishing man. It hit him in the shoulder, allowing police to arrest him, but at the cost of a civilian's life. She stood up at the wrong time, just in time to catch the bullet through her throat. If she had stayed down, she'd still be alive. Such a burden as that was thrown upon the man who fired that shot. A police man. Top rank officer Onishima.

As much as he hated what he had just done, the suspect was still and threat to his fellow officers and the public. First things first they always say. Trying to hide the shock of killing a civilian, Onishima rushed to aid his peers in capturing the criminal. Even though many people witnessed the whole thing, no one knew that it was Onishima who had accidentally shot Sakura. They all assumed it was the suspect who did it. Everyone, but Hiro.

He had seen him aiming at the suspect, but now all he could see was his aunt. His lifeless aunt on the side walk, just lying there in a rapidly growing pool of blood. She didn't even have a chance, she died instantly. Through all of the chaos, no one noticed the poor little boy, all alone and scared. The little boy who had just watched his aunt, his mother-like figure, get killed right in front of him. No one noticed, and no one cared. He knelt down beside his aunt and shook her shoulder with his little hand. He was hoping she would just wake up and be okay, but she wasn't reacting. Tears started to fill up the youth's green eyes and he made no attempt to stop them. He clutched onto his aunt's coat as he began sobbing uncontrollably. "Aunt Sakura…" His voice was broken by his sobs and his whole body shook. Scared and alone, he did the only thing he could do. 

****** 

__

I cried. I hid my face in my aunt's coat and cried. It was probably the hardest I ever cried in my life. Something must have happened to grab everyone's attention away from me and my aunt because, as far as I knew, no one even gave us a second glance. As I rested my forehead on her shoulder, I noticed something glittering on her finger. It was her ring. The ring I promised to take if anything happened to her. My eyes grew large as I remembered the promise. Not wasting anytime, I took the ring from her finger and slipped it into my pocket. The feeling of it in my jeans only reminded me of why it was in my possession, and I was attacked by another wave of sobs. I clutched my aunt's coat again and wiped my tears away, when I felt someone's hand land on my shoulder and yank me away.

******

Letting out a startled cry, Hiro was drug to his feet from behind. "You're coming with me, kid. Just settle down, will ya?" The man held tightly on to Hiro's coat collar and drug him to his car. Hiro screamed for help, but no one lifted a finger to help the frightened child. He tried to stop himself by digging his heels into the ground, but only succeeded in causing himself to trip over his feet. "Okay, let's get her outta here." The distant voice caused Hiro to look up just in time to see a team of medics lifting his aunt's body onto a cot and wheeling it into a nearby ambulance. 

"Aunt Sakura!" Hiro fought fiercely to get out of his napper's grasp while screaming wildly and tears flowing freely from his eyes. Spectators gave him strange, yet sympathetic looks as he struggled in vain to get free. "Hold still!" the man grunted as he shoved him into the back of his car. The back of Hiro's head hit the seat, causing the rest of his body to follow. He sat up quickly, still hoping to escape, only to have the door slammed shut right in front of him. That was when he realized why no one helped him. He was in a patrol car and the man who had gotten hold of him was a keisatsu. He placed his hands on the car window and peered out. The ambulance had just finished loading Sakura's body up and began to pull away from the sidewalk. "Aunt Sakura..." Hiro mumbled quietly to himself as his hands slowly slid down the glass, leaving a smeared trail of handprints. The officer started up the patrol car as the ambulance headed off in the opposite direction and disappeared.

******

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That was the last time I saw my aunt. I still don't know what happened to her after the ambulance took her away. I never heard anything else about my aunt, just that she died. No, she was murdered. Murdered by him.

******

Officer Onishima. Top of his class and just a step below being captain, he was put in charge of finding the relatives of the youth he had brought in. Shuffling a few papers behind his desk, Onishima brought up a directory search of Tokyo-To on the computer. "What's your name, kid?" Hiro shifted uncomfortably in the wooden chair placed in front of the officer's desk. Still sniffling from his previous crying fit, he rubbed his nose and looked at the floor. "Hiro Yagami." The clicking sounds of a computer mouse quickly followed as well as the sound of a pen racing over a sheet of paper. "That woman that was shot, what was her name?"

"Sakura Yagami," Hiro's voice seemed forceful and angry, as if Onishima should have known her name by heart. "She was my aunt."

"Right," Once again, Onishima scribbled something on a piece of paper and continued his search on the computer. Hiro was a bit angry and hurt that he could just brush off the death of his beloved aunt like it was nothing. Especially when he was responsible for it. "Do you know what your mother's name is?"

"Miaka Yagami," Hiro mumble. The same sounds followed his response as Hiro began examining the office again. It was his only comfort now as he faced an uncertain near future. "We're going to send you to live with your mother."

Hiro's eyes opened widely as he snapped his head to look straight at the officer. "I don't wanna live with my mom. She doesn't like me!" Onishima ignored his protest and skimmed through an address book. "Have you ever met your mother?" he said without looking up. "No."

"Then how do you know she doesn't like you?" 

"My aunt said that she didn't appreciate me and..."

"I don't care what your aunt said, kid! You're going to live with your mother whether you like it or not!" Onishima finished his statement by slamming his papers on the desk, leaving Hiro cringing and clinging to the sides of the chair.

******

__

Onishima can be pretty cold blooded, and I had a feeling he knew that I was being sent to live with a woman who was in no way fit for caring for a child. Not only that, but she was abusive. She and her boyfriends as well. I clearly remember meeting her for the first time when Onishima dropped me off in the gutter of Kogane, where my mom and many other poor people lived. You see, my mom is a prostitute and a striper at a local nightclub. She's also a drug addict. That's why she barley had any money on her, despite how much her 'career' brought in. Her boyfriends, I think she had at least six, they were just men who wanted a free ride. They didn't give a crap about her and she was just too stupid to realize it. My father was one of them. They'd just use her for their own horny needs and then move on. Not that I cared, though. She deserved to be used like that. Sometimes, I don't even know why I refer to her as my mom. All she did was give birth to me, but it takes more than that to be a mother. Hell, my old sitter was more of a mother than she'll ever be. 

******

The door had just slammed shut behind him, and Hiro found himself in a shabby little apartment. Dirty clothes scattered the floor and the kitchen floor was in desperate need of some mopping. The only light in the entire place was provided by a pathetic lamp in the corner of the living room and was badly shaped. A young, thin and sallow looking woman circled around the young boy. Her light red hair was a tangle mess and her clothes were wrinkled. "This is just what I need!" Miaka said in heavy annoyance as she threw her arms in the air. "Why did you have to come back to bother me!"

Hiro kept his head down and his hands behind his back. He was scared, but he hid it well under a cover of sadness. Genuine sadness, that is. "I hope you know the only reason I'm allowing you to live here is because I don't want any trouble with the keisatsu." Hiro could feel the tears forming in his eyes, but he fought to keep them back as he continued studying the shaggy carpet. He had tuned out what his mother was ranting on about and tried to mentally escape his situation. "Are you listening to me?" Hiro found himself taking small steps back towards the door. He didn't know what had triggered his sudden movement, until he felt his mother's hand grip tightly around his arm. "Don't you ever ignore me, you little shit!" 

Her superior strength overwhelmed Hiro as she yanked him away from the door. Tightening her grip on his wrist, she backhanded him right across the face, which she followed up with a punch. Already too punch drunk to stand straight, Hiro couldn't even stop himself from hitting the wall. He felt a strong foot connect with his chest as he slid to the floor. Miaka gave her son an evil look, as if she was about to hit him again, then decided he wasn't worth her time. Though, just for good measure, she gave him one more good kick before turning her back on the frightened and hurt child.

******

__

So the abuse began. My mom would always find some reason to beat me and her boyfriends would usually 'take care of it' for her if they were around. Sometimes, to advertise her 'business' even further, she'd throw orgies. The first one had to be the worst experience for me, and they just kept getting worse.

******

A group of partiers crowded the small apartment to its maximum capacity. Adults of all ages were there, drinking heavily and shooting smack or whatever else they could get their hands on. Some had already passed out and some were making their mark on the floor with a random partner. 

Hiro was in his small room, wide awake and staring at the ceiling. He had just woken up from another nightmare and gripped his raggy blanket tightly. No one was there to comfort him. If he even asked for assistance from the several people just outside his room he ran the risk of injury. He caressed his cheek gently. Miaka's new boyfriend had given him a pretty bad bruise there the night before. Hiro was scared to death of him. He was a lot bigger than his mom's previous boyfriends and just as cold hearted. He hated his mom and he hated her mean boyfriends.

Suddenly, the door busted open. Hiro bolted up into a sitting position to see who or what had just nearly knocked his door down. There was Miaka, drunk and swaying slightly in the doorway. She was clinging to the arm of a large man. A man with dark brown hair and blackish brown eyes. He wasn't exactly ripped, but he did have a pretty good build. He was tall and very intimidating. He was Miaka's boyfriend.

"Hey you," Miaka said, nearly slurring her words. "The rest of the house is crowded and we need a bed. Get lost."

"But I," Hiro suddenly stopped and froze with fear when Miaka gave him that evil leer of hers and started staggering towards him. Miaka's new boyfriend, Teshio, held a hand in front of her. "Let me take care of this, babe." He said as he gently pushed her back. Miaka grinned wildly as she stepped back and Teshio stood ready to take her place. Hiro's breath caught in his throat and his eyes widened as Teshio slowly walked towards him, cracking his knuckles. His entire body shook violently with fear as he tried to summon up the courage to move. He still had a chance to escape, if he was quick. However, it was too little too late. 

When Hiro finally made his move to escape, Teshio was already within striking range. He grabbed the youth's arm tightly and yanked him back towards the bed. He then tightened his grip to a crushing pressure and raised his right hand. Stars flew into Hiro's vision when he was violently backed handed right on the cheekbone. Teshio had released his grip on him and sent him flying into the wall. He could already taste blood in his mouth as he tried to get up. He blinked a few times, still stunned, but could only see the shadows casted into his room from the opened door. He slid to the floor, hearing the footsteps of Teshio coming closer. Even though there was a group of people just outside his room, no one stepped in to help him. No one even noticed. And as for the few that did notice, they didn't care. No one did.

Hiro suddenly felt himself being lifted off the floor. Teshio had a hold of him again and sent him slamming into the wall. He closed his eyes tightly and prepared himself for the hit. Right across the face came the first punch. Then came another to the side of his head. Soon Hiro was trapped in a shower of punches and backhands. By now, he was bleeding steadily from his nose and mouth, but the hits kept coming, then stopped. "He's not worth your time, Teshio." Miaka said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I think he's learned his lesson for now. Come on! We have to get it on right now! I can't wait any longer!" 

"All right. I'll be right there. Just let me dispose of the trash."

Just as Hiro thought his living nightmare for that night was coming to a close, he found himself looking at the floor again, his eyes bulging out of his skull. For good measure, Teshio had nailed him in the gut and laughed as he doubled over. Once again a strong hand gripped his arm tightly and drug him towards the door, forcing him out of the room and into the opposite wall. The air seemed to pulse around him as the door slammed shut behind him.

******

__

I was trapped outside with a bunch of people I didn't know while my mom and Teshio made heavy love on my bed. Scared and injured, I slowly made my way through the crowd, trying to find a safe place.

******

Hiro pushed his way through the mass of partiers. Just about every room was occupied, even the bathroom. He hated being exposed like this and was feeling rather uncomfortable. Everywhere he looked there were people getting drunk, high and banging on the floor, and none of them seemed to notice Hiro's existence. Finally seeing the crowd lighten a bit, he made his way towards the kitchen. The least occupied room in the apartment still had a few people enjoying themselves in the most immoral ways, but at least he could find a safe place to hide until this was all over. Hiro made his way towards a large cabinet and opened it, pushing whatever was inside of it out and onto the floor. He didn't care that he was making a big mess, nobody would even notice. When he had cleared that all out, he climbed inside and shut the drawer. Once inside, he brought his knees to his chest and hugged them tightly. His stomach still hurt from the punch and his face was still covered in blood and bruises, but at least he was safe for now.

******

__

That was one of the most terrifying nights of my life. After that, I began to grow accustom to my mom's little 'parties', and I always had a plan of escape. Speaking of escape, I spent most of my time outside and away from my mom's wrath. Though the gutter of Kogane wasn't exactly the best neighbor hood for a child to grow up in, it was better than being in that urine soaked hellhole of a home I had. I met a few other kids, each had stories of their own. I was glad to know that I wasn't the only one going through a tough childhood. Just about every kid who lived in there was either a victim of abuse or came from a really poor family, or both. There was this one kid, Oshiro, who lived a nearby apartment building. He told me about how his father killed himself when he was really little and about how his step-dad was abusing him and his mother. We were best friends and we spent just about every day together. Until one day,

****** 

Hiro sat in his room, crying his eyes out. It was early in the afternoon, usually the time of day where he would be out playing with Oshiro, but he wouldn't be playing with him anymore. He was dead. He had just found out that his best friend was killed, hit by a car. His mother was so depressed that she committed suicide to be with her husband and son. Now Hiro felt alone again. Sure, there were other kids in the neighborhood that he could play with and that actually would enjoy his company, but there would never be another Oshiro.

He had heard the shouts of his mother, telling him to quiet down, but he just couldn't. As much as he tried, he couldn't stop the sobs. He didn't want to either. He had just lost another person close to him, he had every right in the world to cry, but he knew what would happen to him if he continued. However, none of that mattered much. He figured he was in for a beating sooner or later and it didn't really matter what the circumstances were, so he continued to cry.

"Dammit! I told you to SHUT UP!!" Miaka was standing in the doorway, the door making another dent in the wall as she slammed it open. She was drunk again and her fingers gripped around the beer bottle in her hand so tightly, it looked as though she would break it. Hiro continued sobbing, not even facing his mother. He was disgusted by her and didn't care that he was about to be beaten again. "You had better stop crying RIGHT NOW or I'll really give you something to cry about!" Angered that Hiro was once again ignoring her, Miaka let out a pent of frustration and stomped towards him. 

Gripping his shoulder tightly, Miaka turned Hiro to face her. Her drunken eyes narrowed with anger and hatred as she raised her right hand, the hand that held the bottle. Hiro could feel his eyes growing large at the sight, but forced them shut as the bottle made it's decent towards his face.

/////////////////////////Back to present//////////////////////////////////////////

Beat removed his green sunglasses and turned towards Gum. She had been wondering about the scar under his left eye for quite some time, but she never expected there to be such a gruesome explanation behind it. "That bitch," was all Gum could say. Beat smiled lightly and nodded. "I was lucky. If the bottle had hit me just a centimeter higher, I would've lost my eye." Gum tried to put on a sympathetic smile for him, to try to make him feel better, but she was unable to when she noticed a wetness in his eyes. "You've been crying?"

Beat opened his mouth to answer, but slowly shut it as Gum's soft glove ran across his face. The fabric soaked up a few of his tears as she brushed them away. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Beat said quietly, looking off in the distance. "It's just that whenever I think about my aunt or Oshiro, I just loosen up I guess." He felt Gum's arm wrap around his shoulder and pull him into her snug embrace. "You don't have to continue, if you don't want to."

Beat smiled and slowly removed her arm from his shoulder. "No, it's all right. It actually feels kinda good to get it all out." He slowly put his sunglasses back on and turned towards the sunset. Gum scooted closer to him and held his hand, just incase of the event that he may need some more comforting. "Now then…."

///////////////Return to past/////////////////////////

Time past and Hiro grew. As he grew he continued to face hardships and acquired scar after scar, both the physical an emotional kind. But as he grew, he began to dream. Dream of a way out of the gutter. He had lived in Shibuya once, when his aunt was still alive. He had seen for himself that there was a place beyond the hookers and the drug-dealers, the alcoholics and the poverty stricken, the diseased and the hungry. He knew that he had to get back to Shibuya-Cho. But how?

As Hiro continued to dream of his escape, he spent more and more time out doors. He got to know his way around the neighborhood more and was able to swipe a thing or two from unsuspecting street vendors. It wasn't long before skates made their introduction to Kogane's gutter, but these weren't just any skates. These new skates just happened to be magnetically driven, in line skates, powered by the newly developed netruim batteries. What skates like these were doing in a place like this, no one is sure of. But those who had the money bought them, and Hiro wasn't about to miss out on this. A quick pinch from his mom's purse and the skates were as good as his. "Not like she needs more smack," he used that as his justified means from stealing from his own mother's purse, but then again, who could blame him?

Skating was Hiro's favorite activity. He could get out of the apartment and escape from all the pain he had to face at 'home'. He never felt as free as he did when he was skating. He soon discovered that the more he skated, the better he got. It wasn't long before he was pulling of grinds and a few basic tricks. Of course, he fell down here and there, but road rash was nothing to him.

Hiro continued to grow and continued to get better at skating. Finally, he was thirteen years old. That was the age, he decided, that he would make his move. He was going to escape. He had been neglected, abused, depressed, hungry, and lonely for seven years. He was sick of putting up with his mom's shit and being beaten into a bloody pulp by her boyfriends for breathing. He was finally going to get out.

******

__

I had planned everything out for that night. Right at sunset was the best time to move. Street vendors always closed at that time and the streets were generally deserted, making it easier to skate. However, when night hits Kogane, that's when all the psychos and drug dealers come out. Kogane is the most dangerous place to be at night in Tokyo-To.

******

Hiro's heart pounded with excitement as he scanned over the items he had just packed away into his backpack. Tonight was the night. He would no longer have to put up with his mom or the gutter. He took one last look around his room to see if there was anything he needed to bring. Not that his room consisted of much to begin with, that is. A bed and a small table as well as some old dirty clothes that he'd never wear again anyway. That was all of the possessions he had that he couldn't bring along. Not that he'd terribly miss any of it, but it was kind of a shame. His travelling inventory consisted of a semi-clean pair of pants and a T-shirt, a small blanket, a flashlight, a pen, his journal, and his skates as well as a few replacement batteries. Between what was in his room and what was packed, the only other things he owned were the clothes on his back and his new green sunglasses he swiped from one of the street vendors to cover up his scar. No, there was one other thing. The ring.

He zipped up his backpack and took a look out his window. The sun was just beginning to set and he could already see the street vendors packing up for the day. Now was the time. He slipped his backpack onto his shoulders and got up from the bed. He placed his hand on the doorknob, and froze. It hit him then what he was really about to do, he would never see any of this again. He suddenly felt as though he should take one last look around his room, but he only shook his head at that thought. What kind of memories did his room have to offer him anyway? What kind of memories did the whole neighborhood have to offer him? Nothing but pain, that's what. The only happy memories he could really grasp on were the times he spent with Oshiro, but even that lead to pain. 'Don't look back, Hiro. Don't ever look back.' He slowly turned the doorknob as his hand was once again free. He carefully pushed the door open and stepped out. Releasing his hand, he slowly pushed the door until the click of the knob was heard. The back of his mind cried out for him to reopen the door and look one last time, but he ignored whatever was calling him back. He was proud of himself for doing so.

Hiro quietly crept through the apartment. He had no idea where his mom was and he wanted to get out without getting beaten again. He still beared the bruises from the previous night and he vowed to himself that that was the last beating he'd have to go through on Miaka's part. She didn't appear to be home, so things were looking good at the moment. Exhaling a short breath through his mouth, Hiro turned heal and headed straight for the door. Nothing would stop him now, not even the doubt that surfaced in his mind as he opened the door, and froze once again. However, it wasn't the doubt that stopped him this time, it was the sense of duty. 

He slowly turned around a looked about the apartment. Almost everywhere he looked he could draw up an image of him being savagely beaten by either his mom or one of her sleazy boyfriends. He gently touched the sensitive part on his face with his fingers. An evil grin spread across his face as he scanned the room. He turned around and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door shut. As he walked down the stairs, he kept his eyes on the streets, scanning them as if looking for something. He reached the bottom of the stairs and ran over to a pile of boxes leaned up against a building. He began throwing boxes left and right, digging through the garbage like one of the homeless looking for food. 'I know I saw it in here yesterday,' He continued littering the sidewalk until his eyes fell upon the treasure he was looking for. Snatching it from the damp ground, he turned and ran up the apartment steps. He was running out of time. He didn't know when his mom and her new boyfriend would be back and if he didn't get out of Kogane before nightfall, he would be bloody mincemeat before tomorrow morning. Still, this was something that needed to be done.

Reaching his floor in record time, Hiro pushed the door open and scanned the apartment. The same evil grin was on his face as he brought the object in front of him. A rusty black crowbar. "Now, mother, it wasn't very nice of you to treat me the way you did," his voice was dripping with anger and insane laughter as his breath became short and quick. "therefore I must take it upon myself to reinforce a sense of moral upon this living establishment." The first thing he spied was Miaka's sacred television set. This was one of Hiro's gateways of escape, but he wouldn't be needing that anymore. "Trust me, you'll thank me one day." 

Glass littered the floor as the end of the crowbar broke through the television screen. Hiro was on a destructive spree as he smashed everything in his path. The lamp was in a thousand pieces on the floor as was the telephone. Vodka and tequila gathered in puddles on the floor while surrounded by the pieces of glass that once served as their containers. Hiro opened the fridge and pulled out everything, dumping it on the floor, then tipping the damn thing over on its side. He then took his wrath to his mother's room, where the raging beast inside of him was finally set free. All of Miaka's personal possessions lay broken on the floor. Holes were punctured into the walls and the carpet was ripped from the floor. All of her clothes littered the floor, ripped to shreds and was she ever going to be surprised when she found her stash in the toilet. In the middle of all the wreckage, Hiro stood, breathing heavily. The crowbar slipped from his fingers and onto the floor. Glancing around, he took what time he had to admire his handy work, but he had to leave soon. It would be dark very soon and Hiro definitely didn't want to stick around after what he had done. Not wasting anymore time, he hightailed it to the door and down the steps.

Once on street level, Hiro strapped up his skates and prepared to jet outta there. He didn't take the time to look over his shoulder at his old apartment, he just wished he could've stayed to see the look on his mom's face when she saw his good-bye present to her. Pushing off with one foot, he glided down the street. A side from a few pedestrians here and there, the streets were deserted and perfect for fast skating. He had a long way to go before he got to Shibuya and not a lot of time to do it. He tried not to think of that though, he was getting out. He didn't have time to think negatively anymore, at least not at the moment. The tall apartment buildings whizzed past him as he gained speed began to lose their height. A sure sign that he was reaching the end of this forsaken neighborhood. His gut tingled as he flew by the last few houses and got a taste of crisp air as the wind picked up. It was something he hadn't experienced in a long time. He was free.

He soon reached a tall wire fence, which stopped him in his tracks. Unphased by the obstacle, he skated around until he found on opening. He pushed his backpack through first, then got on his belly and crawled through, taking care to keep his clothes from snagging. Once that was cleared, he got up and brushed the dirt off of his pants. He found himself in what appeared to be an abandon construction site, and it was all up hill from there. He had never skated uphill before and that task tuckered him out rather quickly, but he kept pushing on. He even fell down a few times, but he always caught himself and got right back up. Sweat ran down his forehead and dripped off his chin, but he quickly wiped it all away with his shirt. He scolded himself under his breath as he went. "Keep going, dammit!" He'd say. "Get up!" After climbing up a seemingly endless twisting hill, he placed his hand on his knee and supported his weight with another hand pressed against the concrete wall. 

He kept his head down as he caught his breath, watching as his skates rolled over a few clumps of dirt. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught what appeared to be a sparkling. Some sort of reflection of the setting sun. Taking his gaze from the ground, he dropped his jaw at the sight of a large body of water. He certainly didn't remember ever seeing that before. Not only that, but there were highways just overhead. And straight in front of him was a line of houses bunched up together. He was glad for an incline after climbing that hill. Shaking his head, he took a deep breath and stepped onto the roofs. Hiro had never gone down something so steep before, but he was sure to get up some speed and the faster he went, the better. He could see the end of Kogane in the distance. He was almost there.

He gently pushed off the wall and allowed himself to roll down the rooftops. The speed was slow at first and easy to manage. A simple lift of the skates and he cleared roof after roof, but as the speed increased, his control level dropped. Before he knew it, he was clearing an entire roof with what seemed like a tame jump and saw himself descending towards the next roof at a much greater speed than he would've liked. "Oh shit!" His skates pounded on the roof as his body lunged forward. Hiro struggled to keep his balance as he tried to maneuver his feet while waving his arms in the air like a maniac. He soon discovered that he managed to keep his balance easier by going with the speed, but there was still the problem of landing safely. He saw the street just ahead of him crowded with children playing. Normally, landing would just be a matter of not losing balance when coming in contact with the street. Unfortunately, there was a large warehouse at the end of the houses and not enough road to slow down on. 

Hiro shrugged off his predicament with a quick breath and decided to gamble on his only idea. He jumped high into the air a few houses before the end the house hill and turned to the right to give him a bit more room to land. He flew over the last of the houses as well as a small road parting the houses into two groups and a few spectators. He quickly descended towards the ground and prepared his body for impact. Just as planned, he did land on his feet, but they promptly slipped out from underneath him causing him to land on his face. 'Not bad, considering that's the first time I've done that,' Hiro thought as he got up and brushed the gravel off of his jeans. 'I didn't break any bones anyway.' 

Glad to still have his body functional, he slowly skated towards the warehouse to see if there was a way through it. He placed his hands upon the window frame to try to get a look in, only to discover the wall crumbled at his touch. "It's doing that thing again!" he heard someone complain from behind. "Why don't those lazy ass Rokkaku guys fix it properly. It's a hazard!" Hiro took a deep breath and was glad that he hadn't personally caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to the building. Jumping down the floor, he slowly skated over to the large red doors and pushed them open.

Looking directly below him, Hiro saw a vertical concrete wall with deep gap of water. It was at least twenty feet to the water surface, perhaps thirty, but it was only three feet from where Hiro stood to the road on the lower residential area. Not a bad jump, he could make it easily. At least, he had given up most of his fear with the whole roof top thing, this should be nothing. Retreating to the back of the warehouse, Hiro readied himself for a dash, putting his right foot on the wall for better acceleration. He sprung forward and tuned into a constant dash pushing himself to the limit. He saw the edge of the floor drawing closer as he squeezed the energy to his legs, making him even faster. Placing his front wheel on the edge of the wall, he jumped pushing himself forward like a spring. He felt a sense of pride as he cleared the gap easily, but that was crushed when he mixed up his footing on the landing and once again got a close up look at the tar road.

"I've really got to work on that," he said nonchalantly as he got up. Looking around, he found himself facing a large bare wall to his left and a concrete bridge to his right. He turned left and skated past the wall where he was forced to turn right. He spotted a small water tower and a tall fence lining stairs to the lower level of the residential area. Out in the distance, he saw it. The wooden bridge over the orange water, leading out of Kogane. Shibuya was just ahead, he was in the home stretch. He skated over to the stairs and took care while descending them, bouncing along as his skates hit each stair. Reaching the bottom, he sprung into another dash. He decided not to take the long way through the houses and jetted right for the stairs. Jumping the second gap, Hiro landed on the stairs and once again lost his balance. Climbing the stairs in skates proved to be more challenging than it seemed. His feet kept wanting to slip out from underneath him and he had to lean on the wall for support. Finally reaching the top, he launched into another dash just as the final sunbeams broke through the clouds and night slowly swallowed the sky. He made it. He got out of Kogane with seconds to spare. All promised to be easy now.

Wandering around the evening atmosphere of Shibuya-Cho was breath taking for Hiro. It wasn't quite as he remembered it, but it was a definite improvement. There were no bums littering every street corner. Trash didn't litter the streets. The air was a lot cleaner as well as the streets, which were nice and dry. Not damp with sewage, alcohol, and urine like in the gutter. It really was an improvement and even though he didn't have anywhere to go at the moment, he didn't care. He had made it and he still couldn't believe it.

After a while of walking around, he decided it was time to find a place to settle for the night. Unfortunately he had only one option. The street. Not a bad choice compared to where he used to live though. He found a nice clean alley and checked around him before settling down. No one was around and the alley was actually rather warm as it was between to apartments. He unloaded his sleeping bag and took out his blanket. He gathered a few newspapers together to make a pillow, shaking them out first to make sure there were no little critters living inside. With his bed set up, he pulled his blanket over his shoulder and prepared to fall asleep. He kept the flashlight nearby just incase as he was pretty nervous. It was his first time sleeping outside after all, and if Shibuya's streets were anything like where he once lived, he wasn't going to be there in the morning. But that was a risk he had to take and, surprisingly, sleep came rather easily to the young runaway.

Moving from alley to alley is how Hiro spent most of his days. Just trying to find a safe and warm place to sleep wasn't easy, but he didn't fear psychos here as much. However, as the seasons changed and winter approached, finding dry places to sleep was getting harder and harder. He knew that if he didn't find a warm shelter by winter, he'd freeze to death. That knowledge put increasing pressure on him to find a permanent place to stay. Not only did Hiro have to worry about shelter, but food as well. Water wasn't much of a problem as there were several water fountains scattered through Shibuya, but food didn't come quite as easily. Hiro had too much pride to resort to begging, so stealing was his only option. Easier said than done though. Nine out of ten times Hiro snagged something to snack on, he'd get caught and would be forced to sacrifice the food in order to escape. He didn't get to eat very often and had noticeably lost a few pounds. He had become so hungry his stomach hurt and he began running low on energy. Some would say that running away was a big mistake, but Hiro would disagree whole-heartly with that.

He had no shelter. "What is shelter?" Hiro'd say. "Shelter is something that you are safe in. Well, I was far from safe when I was living with my mom. The last time I had shelter was when my aunt Sakura was still alive." He had almost no food. "I wasn't eating much better in the gutter than I am on the street. My mom would spend most of her money on drugs and very little on food, and what I did eat was usually scraps. The only food advantage I had there than out here was that I got to eat everyday. I'd say that I'm much better off on the streets than in the gutter. I can't say that I'm disappointed in Shibuya." While all that was true, Hiro knew that he wouldn't last through winter if he didn't find a good shelter. Even that didn't phase him as he continued the struggle to survive one day at a time.

However, one night turned out to be much fiercer than the others. Hiro ran through the streets as he held a newspaper over his head. It was raining heavily and the temperature had dropped dramatically. It was only forty out and no one knew if it would be getting any colder, but odds are that it would. He hadn't eaten in days and it was already November. Winter was right around the corner and Hiro was almost out of time. He checked alley after alley, but there was no dry place to sleep. Things seemed hopeless. He wasn't willing to give up though and he ran down another alley way hoping to find a stoop or anything else that would provide temporary shelter from the rain. He frantically looked left and right. Nothing but walls, damp papers, trash cans, abandon building…abandon building? Hiro skidded to a stop and took a few steps back to make sure he saw what he saw. Slowly approaching the building he took a look inside the window. That's when he realized that the abandon building was really an abandon garage.

He stepped through the large window in the front and discarded the soggy newspaper. Everything was dark and cold, but at least it was dry. Hiro set down his backpack and reached inside taking out his flashlight. He turned it on and was amazed by what he saw in one corner of the building. It was a large stereo system. It was broken at the moment, but not past repair. Why anyone would leave a perfectly restorable stereo system behind was beyond him, but it was there and Hiro had every intention of keeping it. Upon further inspection of the garage, he found a glass wall perpendicular to the stereo system, probably used for strategy maps or something, behind that he found a metal sheet door and on the other side was a whole hidden section of the garage. There was what appeared to be a kitchen like room and there were some other rooms beyond that, but there was plenty of time to explore tomorrow. He was tired and he found a dry place to sleep. That was all that mattered at the moment. If he could find someway to restore it and make it a little warmer, he could use it as his permanent home and the threat of perishing during the winter months would be eliminated. But that didn't matter now. He was dry and safe, and all he wanted to do was sleep.

It was the sharp hunger pains in his stomach that woke Hiro. The rain had stopped and it was late in the afternoon. The garage had warmed up a bit and his hair and clothes had almost completely dried. But he was hungry, and he didn't know what he was going to do for food. It had been days since he had eaten and it wasn't as if he hadn't been trying. Each time he tried to snag some food, he'd get caught and was forced to choice between sacrificing the food or his freedom. Stealing food was getting harder and harder and he hardly had enough energy to move, let alone pull off a successful heist. He lay on the floor with his back against the cold hard concrete. "I don't think I can make it," He had no idea his energy level would be so low when he awoke the next morning, but it was. He had no food within reach and no one knew he was there. By the time he was found by someone it would probably be too late anyway. It definitely looked like the end. "Well, I can't say I'm disappointed." Hiro said, grinning to himself. "I got away from my whore of a mom and returned to Shibuya like I always promised I would. I had a lot of fun living on the streets actually and surviving one day at a time wasn't so bad, even if I did fail. What a perfect way to end my painful life. I'll be warm and dry when I die, that's more than some people get. Yes, what a perfect way to die." Hiro narrowed his eyes, his grin dipping a bit. "Aunt Sakura," he whispered softly. He didn't really know why he whispered her name, it just felt right.

Hiro exhaled gently and rolled over to his side. He was about to go back to sleep, when he felt something pinch his skin. It was something in his pocket. It was the ring. "I still have the ring Aunt Sakura. Aren't you proud? I kept my promise." That's when his eyes narrowed even more and his grin turned into a snarl. "No, I didn't. I promised I'd give it to someone special and I didn't. I can't either, unless I live. I have to live to fulfill my promise. I have to do it for Aunt Sakura!"

Hiro rolled over on his stomach and pushed his body up with his arms. His arms shook under the weight and he placed his knee under his body for support. Pushing himself up to a kneeling position, he placed his hand on the wall and slowly stood. At the moment, he didn't have his skates on or he would've fallen. "Skates! Why didn't I think of it before!" All the times he tired to steal food, he was wearing sneakers rather than skates. Perhaps if he tried, he'd be more successful. It was worth a shot anyway. "But do I have enough energy to skate?" Since skating down a street took much less effort than walking, Hiro decided that he'd be better off on skates than on foot. Making his way over to a wall, he leaned up against it and strapped up his skates. Once he was in a sitting position, he didn't feel quite as weak. It was like some of his energy had come back to him. Maybe it was all in his head, or maybe his will to survive was energizing him a bit. Whatever the reason, he had a bit more energy to work with. Not much, but it was better than nothing.

Hiro slowly stood up and pushed himself off the wall. He slowly glided over to the window and placed his hands on the edge to rest a bit. He then slowly crawled through the window and skated down the alley. Center Street was nearby by and he could get up a lot of speed on that street. Not to mention that not too far down Center Street there was a business section where street vendors made a killing. Therefore, that would be Hiro's best bet for food. As he skated he often had to stop and rest, but he wasn't using as much effort as he would be on foot. He already noticed that he covered much more distance on skates than he did on foot in a shorter amount of time. "I just might pull it off after all,"

Standing at the top of Center Street, Hiro decided to take the road to the right, as it had no cars. He took one last breather before allowing himself to roll down the hill. He gained speed faster than he had expected but did not have too much trouble maneuvering himself. Once he reached the end, he took a sharp turn right and pushed himself a bit to keep his speed up. He then stopped and just allowed himself to go. He covered a large distance in no time with out much effort on his part before slowing to a stop amongst a huge cluster of skyscrapers and office buildings. Just as he predicted, there were dozens of vendors scattered around selling hot dogs and other foods. 

He skated over to a bench and sat down. His energy level had gone down just a bit, leaving just enough to make a steal. There was no room for error. Hiro inhaled deeply to nourish his body as much as he could. The aroma of food from a nearby cart filled the air and Hiro unconsciously clutched his empty, aching stomach. "Hot dogs. Been a while since I had those," he mumbled as he eyed the nearby cart. He had his routine down pat. Wait for the vendor to hand the food over to the customer and make your move. Easy strategic, but very difficult to execute. 

Hiro rose from the bench and made his way closer to the vendor. He was about ten feet within the cart when he grabbed a nearby street light pole and pulled himself over. He rested his back on it as well as his right foot to give him an extra boost when it was time to attack. Then he waited. "Customer walks over, places order, hands vendor the money," Hiro leaned forward into a tiger-like crouching position, ready to pounce. The vendor was just putting the finishing touches on the two hot dogs that head just been ordered. He put the ketchup and mustard away and turned to the customers who had just grabbed a few napkins. Just out of the corner of his eye he could see a kid in a yellow shirt and green shades skating at full speed in his general direction, but he didn't think much of it. That is, until he noticed the kid was skating right at him.

He turned around, with the hot dogs still in hand, and glared at Hiro who was less than two feet from his target. "Hey kid!" That was about all the vendor had time to say as Hiro launched himself in the air and connected the front of his skates with the poor guy's forehead. As the vendor fell to the ground, the world growing dark around him, Hiro snagged the two hot dogs and dashed out of there. "Hey! That kid stole my food!" Hiro could only chuckle at the people yelling behind him. "What are they so upset for? It's not like they'll never see food like this again."

Hiro made it to the safety of an alley and sat down to catch his breath. He had gotten ketchup and mustard all over his hands, but the feeling felt great! He took a small bite of the hot dog and chewed it carefully. He had learned from experience that even when you're starving it's not a good idea to eat your food too fast or you might throw up or get major indigestion. After swallowing, he paused for a while to let his body adjust to having food in it again. After his stomach settled down a bit, he continued. He closed his eyes and grinned to himself. He was going to live after all. That meant he could fulfill his promise to Sakura. Besides, he wasn't about ready to bite the dust just yet. There were a few things he'd like to do first.

After finishing the first hot dog, Hiro licked the ketchup off of his hand and began to devour the other. However, and sudden rustle in the alley disrupted his meal. He gulped as fear began to rise in his body. If it was another street bum begging for food, he'd simply give the guy what he wanted and then get the hell outta there. All bums scared him, even though the Shibuya bums weren't nearly as crazy as the Kogane ones. But it wasn't a bum that crawled out of the alley. 

A small little bulldog limped out from behind a cluster of trashcans. It seemed pretty beat up as it whimpered with each step and struggled just to stay standing. It had gang tagging on it's fur and a few scabs covering it's body. Even from where he was Hiro could smell the drugs from the dog's fur. Whoever the dog belonged to was a pothead and most likely forced the poor animal to fight for entertainment. And it was only a puppy.

Hiro's heart was crushed by the appearance to the poor dog. It looked like it hadn't eaten in days and it was pretty dirty. He broke off a small piece of the hot dog and tossed it to the mutt. The dog sniffed at it and greedily ate it up. "Poor mutt," he mumbled, breaking off another piece. "But then again, I can relate to him." He tossed the dog another piece and he trotted over to the free eats. Sniffing the air, he knew that Hiro had more food on him, so he finished off what he had thrown to him and carefully made his way over. Hiro grinned and held out another piece of food. The dog sniffed his hand then gladly took the sustenance from him. He allowed the dog to lick the ketchup off of his hand, then attempted to pet him. However, the whimpered and lowered it's body to the floor, obviously afraid that he was going to get hit. "Poor mutt's probably been beaten it's whole life," Hiro held out the rest of the hot dog in his other hand and the dog helped himself to the offering. While he was feeding, Hiro slowly laid his hand on the dog's head and began stroking the rough and dirty fur. The dog licked Hiro's hand and was obviously pleased with the gently attention he was getting as Hiro scratched his ears. "You wanna come live with me, pup?" The dog responded by jumping up and placing his paws on Hiro's knee. "I'll take that as a yes."

Ever so gently, Hiro picked up the puppy and cared him back to the garage. The whole way he kept licking his face making it difficult for Hiro to see where he was going. Not that it bothered him too much. He wouldn't have to face the winter months alone and he felt a bit of his aunt's virtues coming through in him. Sakura was always a kind-hearted person. After all, she raised one hell of a nephew.

To be continued…..

So, what did you all think of my interpretation of Beat's past? Well? Don't be shy people, just review!


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